Radiata Stories: Team of Mercenaries
by Terra ace
Summary: AU: In a Semi Futuristic Radiata, the guilds have left the city and have claimed territory upon various lands. Things have not gone better as Radiata unleashes it's own brand of power: The Radiata Knights.
1. Newspaper clippings

Radiata Stories: Team of Mercenaries

In a futuristic Radiata, The guilds have been anxious for power and have moved in four separate directions, claiming whatever territories as their own. Jack Russell is waiting to enter the new Radiata Knight Operations Armada to serve in the army like his missing father, Cairn Russell. Can the world stay the same now that Jack is a soldier in training for an eventual war of the guilds?

Chapter Prologue: The New Armada and The Stories of War

**_A New Beginning? _**By Paul, Staff Writer

_Times have changed since the old days of Mercenaries. Some good and some bad, like much of formally free and wild land. The Guilds have moved away from Radiata and have begun to claim lands in all separate regions surrounding our fair city. The once thriving, if not slightly insane Vareth Guild have closed down their doors and established the Blue Vareth in the northern lands of Radiata with their development of new and dangerous weapons programs._

_The shady Green Void guild has expanded to the east of undiscovered terrain and now has full advantage of the unknown lands. Of course, their Spy and Assassination Programs are nothing to brush away either for their guild have reported many successful assassinations of top officials and other unknown people._

_The once holy based Gold Olacion Temple have recently left their massive temple and relocated to the Southern region leaving a simple message of finding 'Priestess Enjela' though many do not believe it, few think there is corruption in the order and 'Enjela' is actually the name of their hidden Air and Satellite programs. The Temple denies these claims and never has spoken about it since._

_Then there is the ever heroic. The Orange Vancoor was the last to leave Radiata but for different reasons. The once dubbed Theater Vancoor left in order to keep check on the other guilds' ambitions. They left to the west and have claimed territory over the Western side of Radiata. Their Vehicle and Mercenary Programs are ranked number one among the city's citizens._

_Due to a strange drought that has not lifted for many years, the local farmland has dwindled to Solieu City and Tria Village. The local lands around the two cities have turned into unsettling desert terrain and the only green is left in those two cities. Each city has proclaimed support to Orange Vancoor and is willing to help them in any way._

_Then in a controversial move, Radiata's President Jiorus IV proclaimed._

_"For too long, Radiata has been split apart by warring Guild Mongrels and their ambitious goals to unite the land under their iron rule. I, for one believe it's time to defend our homeland and take the fight to those who oppose us! My fellow citizens, we must rise to the point to where we reach the aptitude of matching guild power, and in time, overpass and crush the guilds once and for all! I hereby ask each and every one of my citizens to come and join the pride of our Military might: The Radiata Knight Operations Armada!"_

_Jiorus IV then unleashed the first squadron of the new Radiata Knights. The first squad of soldiers marched proudly among cheering crowds as they marched to the north to do their first objective: Fortify a Garrison camp to do their spy program._

_Jiorus also proclaimed that the newly formed army would be superior in all fields, even surpassing those of the warring guilds. I, for one wait to see if this is true, in these times, a war is all but inevitable._ -Paul, Military reporter 01/29

**_The Price of Wars, The Price of Overconfidence by Captain Zeranium_**

_The aspect of joining the Radiata Knights was a dream come true for some, others it was a nightmare. Those who fought for honor and fame had their dreams shattered when they saw their fellow comrade being disintegrated by an insane Vareth Weapon of mass destruction. Then the poor souls who had to enter combat with the Void never made it past the entry point of the shrouded forest when they were killed on the spot or captured and turned insane with their arsenal of hallucinating medicines or potions._

_I was one of only a handful of survivors when we began a campaign to the south. At first, we were the most advanced group of this age and had no trouble defeating the petty resistance in their foot soldiers poor example of firepower. We were invincible and we suffered no casualties to make us stop. Our soldier's armor was bullet proof and had their advanced rifles from our R&D department. Our Tanks were slow but Impenetrable to rifles, bazookas and even an attack from another tank! We were ready to storm the HQ that our aircraft spotted from high and storm it we did! The strange part was that there were only a handful of soldiers that held on for a good hour by taking our combat groups in surprise from attacking two stories up to reaching the ground floor and rushing to their deaths. As soon as we confirmed it, my men and me approached the altar._

_A computer was online and had a countdown timer that had a minute to go. We were naturally confused until I read the title: Complete Destruction of Bunker camp A. I told my men to get out of here as we rushed the hell out as the computer started to shake off the altar. We felt it; we felt death trying to claim us._

_One survivor in a tank outside reported a flash and a beam from the East, heading towards our position and was getting ready for evacuation when we rushed out telling everybody to run for their lives. Our Battalion was already rolling away when the beam hit the building. A massive wave of energy blew me off my feet and I was unconscious as the searing pain from the wave hit me._

_I awoke in a hospital bed inside Radiata City. The head doctor, Morfinn had told me that I was only one of four people who survived. A comrade, Tony and me, and two others who I didn't know. I was given a physical and was told that I would never see combat again. The other three saw the same fate, but were more relieved than ashamed._

_All of us would never forget what we saw, what we felt._

_I don't know about Tony or the other two, but I for one will be glad never to see combat ever again. -Retired Captain Zeranium._

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**The field against the oppressors is slowly gaining for their favor. Our men are slowly losing hope…**

**That is…until you enlist. Join the Radiata knights and give hope to these fallen soldiers. Prove to them that the city has not given up! The future is calling…can you meet it?**

**Join The Few, The Proud, The Knights!**

_Paid advertisement of the Radiata knights recruitment group. Join the Knights(TM) and Join the Few, The Proud, The Knights(Tm) are registered Trademarks of the Radiata Knights and their affiliates. Any and all war related programs are also owned by Radiata Knights and their affiiates._

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_Send your stories of war to the Knight Gazette! At 4231 Path of Insanity and Fanaticism Building B!_


	2. Meet Jack

A note to everyone: I'm sorry if that first chapter confused many of you but I was doing an experimented idea. Sadly, that resulted in failure.

Chapter two: Join the army!

Previously "Join the few, the proud the knights!"

We back up to see a large flyer posted in the bulletin board of a seemingly large hallway. A young man was hefting a backpack and moving toward his locker. He grudgingly opened the lock and recovered most of his things for what would be the last time...

The young man was recently expelled from his high school. This young man's name was Jack Russell. His stylish brown hair was rather popular with the girls and was constantly the center of attention, what sealed the deal with his hair was those handsome brown eyes that seemed to melt off the girls hearts and infuriate their boyfriends.

Sadly, this attention was also the reason for his expulsion. He had gotten in one too many fights within the school and it wasn't his fault! Just because the guy's girlfriend broke off their relationship, he had to assume Jack was somehow responsible. Jack nodded and laughed a bit, he was actually a bit responsible as she constantly flirted with him and he tried to ignore her back, just to see her expression. Though because of the many fights occurring during Jack's attendance and Jack's record of being the boy with the most recorded fights in the school's history, the Principal, a man named only as Mr. Godwin, was forced to expel Jack and the school council barred him from any other schools within the boy's vicinity. Simply put, Jack had no future...

Jack sighed, he closed his locker...no the school's locker for one last time and came face to face with a young girl. Jack smiled nervously at the young girl's glare and thought about it before he decided to risk bodily harm. Jack opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off angrily.

"Jack Russell!" She stated heatedly, and Jack gulped. Having an angry best/girlfriend was not a good thing. Even though she came from a prominent family, Jack Russell's best/girlfriend, Ridley Silverlake had a fiery temper that matched her father's obnoxious one. Jack knew she wasn't really mad, but until she cooled down, Ridley wouldn't let him off the hook.

"Ridley, I-" Ridley shut him up with a glare from underneath him. Even though she was younger by three weeks, Ridley was the leader of their relationship...even though he started the relationship.

"Jack Russell, how could this happen! You couldn't control your hormones and now you've gotten expelled! What happened, where's the promise we both made to each other?" Ridley said with sad eyes. At the sight of her eyes, Jack nodded sadly as he broke one of the most important promises to each of them. It seemed so long ago...and it was!

flashback: 7 years ago

A young Jack was busily running down the hall to find his first friend to where she said they would meet. Jack had only known Ridley for about three years and was her only companion during these awkward school years, He was her best friend and she, believe it or not, was his first true friend. He finally arrived at an old swing set further away from where most of the new shinier equipment were there for the rest of the children.

There she was, on one of the old swings. Her golden hair held up by two ribbons into two pigtails that looked adorable on her. Her green eyes showed happiness as well as impatience at Jack's tardiness.

"You're late Jack!" Ridley scolded lightheartedly but smiled at her friend's clumsy smile. Jack Russell had been her first friend, and while he wasn't always the smartest of friends, Jack was always at her side whenever she needed him and that's what kept their relationship strong. Ridley looked around nervously and looked at Jack, who was patiently waiting for her to say why they would meet here today. She cleared her throat, a trait Jack knew when she was nervous, and spoke

"Jack, I-I wanted to talk to you about something." Ridley paused and Jack nodded. "I don't know where we will go once school is done and I'm scared." Ridley said this quietly but Jack heard every word of it. Jack waited until she had her courage back and she spoke again.

"Jack, my father wants me to go another school, a private school. It's the Vareth institute for the gifted, but I don't want to go! I want for us to stay together but I'm afraid what my dad has to say. I need your advice, what should I do?" She said in one breath before looking at the ground, almost expecting a hole to swallow her whole and get her away from her friend. Laughing mentally, Jack smiled and put his hand on Ridley's shaking shoulder to which she looked into his eyes, almost expecting a reprimand. However, Jack spoke softly while enveloping her in a hug. Ridley calmed a bit while hugging him, it seemed to keep her from freaking out most of the time.

"Ridley, I want us to be together so talk to your dad and convince him to go the local high school. That way, you and I won't have to separate!"Ridley smiled at Jack's simple solutions and laughed quietly. Ridley, being at the top of the class, was friends with Jack, the class idiot. However they seemed to ignore that

Ridley was the daughter of the rich politician Jasne Colton. She was living with her father when Ridley's mother passed away from an unknown sickness and it devastated her father greatly. Jasne unfortunately soon learned to mourn by doting on his only daughter by giving whatever she wished. Having been raised by her mother while her father was gathering support for him in the elections, she was taught modesty and asked for very little.

However, Ridley's modesty can contradict what her father's overeagerness can do. For instance, when Ridley was seven and asked for a treehouse on her birthday, Jasne mistook it for a plea of wanting a building. So he built a large building and presented it to his daughter, but when Ridley told him that she just wanted a treehouse, he panicked at the now useless building. After all, it cost the taxpayers a lot of money! He could have gotten sacked!

To cover up his mistake, he hastily decided to give the building to the city and had declared an act of public service. The people fortunately bought that and made use of the building by using it as an orphanage for children who lost their parents. Ridley, despite her young age, was saddened by the Children's future home.

Ridley wasn't ignorant, at least not to this matter. The children were saddened by the loss of their parents and who could blame them? There was a war going on and the factions weren't backing down. At first, the presidency took no heed as the Olacion order simply gathered their things and left toward the savannah plains south of Radiata City. The group simply said that it was finding one of their own. Ridley didn't understand but understood years later...it only got worse as the people foolishly elected a most arrogant prat named, Star E. Stern...

Next came the bookish scholars of the Vareth institute for the gifted and the wise. The group hadn't always been at odds with the presidency but President Stern, an imbecile of a president, was pressuring heavy taxes on them. Finally, they were fed up and left the city, leaving them without a school.. Ridley remembered most of the student's shadowed faces as the school closed down and how the teachers left with a smile as President Stern was booted off in favor of the new political leader, Jiorus the IV.

Ridley was shaken off memory lane by Jack's constant list of ideas about how to get her dad out of his latest plan for her daughter.

"Oh, how about you fake your death and then runaway with me! We can live off the land..." Ridley sighed and punched him on the arm, making him shut up.

"Jack, no matter where we go, just promise that we will always be together, ok?" Jack seemed unsure and started to protest but Ridley persisted.

"Ok, Jack? Please...just do this." Jack seemed hesitant but smiled and nodded.

"Sure, we will always be together!" Ridley smiled and stuck her hand in his and gently squeezed. She smiled lightly at her friend's red-hued face.

"Ok! Promise!"

end flashback

Jack looked up slightly to see that Ridley was...crying? Jack eyes widened, she was crying! Jack hugged her fiercely as Ridley tried futilely to get away but settled on blushing while crying into Jack's arms. She hiccuped a bit as she sobbed into him, each sob breaking Jack's heart bit by bit. Ridley finally stopped and looked up, still blushing at Jack, perhaps she was embarrassed? She was usually strong willed. She gently shook off her boyfriend's arms and started to speak quietly, looking at him with her beautiful eyes, at least in Jack's opinion.

"J-jack, but what will happen? To us? To..me?" She asked mostly to herself and was dismayed to hear a sound that both of them will hoped to never hear again.

"Ridley!" An older man than them exclaimed. The annoying man (to them) had tan skin, and the only hair he had was tied in a ponytail. He had an odd obsession over wearing purple but he wore it and made it look not as gay as Jack so bluntly stated. Ridley groaned, it was her old boyfriend, Cross.

Cross Ward. Well, let's say he doesn't have all of his cards. He is a major smoker and had his fair share of drinking problems as well. He wasn't always like this, as he was a timid boy which Ridley had her second kiss with,(the first accidentally being Jack). After that fiasco, Cross had always flaunted Ridley in front of everyone once Ridley agreed to one date and he suddenly took the path he was now: A smoking, drinking loser. His "Rep" was having the school police carting him away when he crashed the principal's car into the east wing of the school's library, he was arrested and was led away in handcuffs while proclaiming his love for Ridley when they broke up earlier that week.

Now he was back.

Ridley noticed that he seemed deliriously happy, not a good sign. He had this look when he convinced Jack and Ridley to hate each other for four months while Cross controlled every move that Ridley did, which she thought at the time, was for her overall being. Jack was about to argue with Ridley later that day when he eavesdropped on Cross and his band smoking cohorts as he spilled his plans to permanently separate Jack from Ridley's life with one more major lie about them. Jack quickly retreated to where Ridley was and asked to talk to her. She refused at first, but gave in as she saw the uncharacteristic serious glint in Jack's eyes. At first, she didn't believe him as she was told Cross' lies but as Ridley listened to Jack's words, she slowly saw the truth about the lies that Cross told. Ridley didn't say a word as she left Jack alone, thinking he had failed but was proven wrong when Ridley came back with a glow that he hadn't saw in a long time: His best friend was back.

A few months after Cross' embarrassing arrest, Jack and Ridley's bond was stronger than ever! Jack was holding on Ridley's arm, sometimes linked and rumors about them dating were flying around in school. The rumors were not to the pleasure of potential seekers of the fair Ridley's hand and had tried on several occasions to separate the two but all failed. Each finally blurted out their feelings with a simple, but powerful, "I love you!" to each other while walking home from school. The entire school believed that it was peer pressure, but Jack and Ridley proved otherwise...

Truth be told, Jack and Ridley fell in love with each other around the beginning of their high school years, but fearing rejection, each pursued different people. Jack was dating a girl named Elena and Ridley was dating Cross. Jack broke up with Elena after realizing that he was hitting on her twin sister, Adina and Ridley...well she caught Cross making out with her senior friend, Natalie. Natalie didn't know that Ridley and Cross were dating and slapped Cross in the face while apologizing to Ridley before running off in tears. Her best friend, a large boy named Leonard chased after her looking remarkably happy.

Almost the entire school knew about Leonard's crush on Natalie but Natalie seemed oblivious to them and him. Nevertheless, Leonard stuck by Natalie as she joined the knights and was happy when she made him second in command for her squad, the Violet Chevre.

Ridley knew from Jack that his father was proclaimed missing in action when he and his squad of commandos, the Blanc Chevalier, were caught in an explosion from the Gold Olacion's secret weapon: Project Enjela (Ridley found out from her father's loud murmurings one night) Jack was devastated and lived with his sister and mother until she passed away from exhaustion working the fields that are now desert land from an unnatural rise in temperatures from the land...

She once saw a picture of Jack's homeland when it was all green with trees and grass and not desert and hot sand like now. It had fertile farmlands and trees blessed the neatly dug dirt roads. Now it was pure pavement where the roads were and dying tree stumps where the trees were. Jack's home still had farmland, his whole town did in fact, but hardly anyone lives there anymore. From last she heard from Jack, his sister and a couple of people live there, vainly trying to save their farms...

Which brings us back to our point which was deterred from...Cross Ward was back and he was smiling...never a good sign...

"Ridley, my love! I'm back, I really missed you!" Cross said hugging her while Ridley looked disgusted and Jack looked...jealous? Well he had a right to be, HE was her Boyfriend after all...

"C-cross! What the..." Ridley stammered as Cross nearly proceeded to kiss her like she was his girlfriend. Jack, needless to say, was pissed.

WHAM! A flying fist from Jack connected with Cross' jaw and fight ensued. Cross was being beaten to the ground by Jack but not without a fierce fight back. Ridley was screaming for them to stop but was secretly rooting for Jack. Unfortunately for Jack, who wanted to beat Cross some more and fortunately for Cross, who was trying to salvage his coined "good looks", Principal Godwin and several police officers were already restraining Jack and was carting him off with Cross in tow. Ridley only stood in shock as her boyfriend and best friend was being carted off to the slammer with Cross...

It was a long ride to the Radiata holding station. The police had found it productive to place three stages of their police force and had built three guard stations around the cities' main points: The Tria Region, the Dova Region, The Adien Region and one other station was currently being built to the eastern exit: The Jiorus Region, in honor of their president...Jack scoffed, the region belonged to the Green Void society and called it something different... He was suddenly yanked from the back of the squad car and was rushed to Sector Three, the holding cells for the criminals such as Jack and Cross.

"Alright, in you go! No trouble from you or else!" A large man shoved Jack into a holding cell and Cross into another with Cross shouting at them "You can't do this to me! Do you know who I am!" His answer was a forceful slam of the steel door and laughing by the guard as he walked away. All was silent for Jack as he thought of Ridley and what her father would do to him now that he had a chance at him.

Jasne Colton was never fond of Jack as he thought him a threat between him and Ridley, but didn't do anything about it because he was Ridley's "Guy" as she called him, Jack didn't mind but Jasne on the other hand...suddenly, a slam and some hurried footsteps while the man was talking excitedly and laughing harshly was coming up the path to the station's holding cells and stopped to greet Cross who was by then looking really happy by the tone of the idiot's voice. The footsteps were getting closer and he found himself face to face with Ridley's father, Jasne and he looked like he found his prey...

"I knew it! I knew it! I finally found proof that this was the menace to society! Ah, the plan was perfect!" Jasne laughed like he won, and by the looks of it, he did. Jack was confused and voiced it with one word.

"Plan?" Jasne stopped laughing enough to give a sneer and then replaced it with an evil smile, it had a hint of victory and with the plan that Jack heard about, it no doubt concerned him and Cross...

"Ah yes! Well, what could it hurt? My plan has succeeded and soon, you'll be in the army! Dying heroically for your country!" Jack's eyes widened in shock, how could they!

"What! How could you...what about Ridley?" Jack asked, horrified. If possible, Jasne's smile got wider. He seemed to full of mirth.

"I had Cross hit on Ridley, knowing that you would take the bait." Jasne said to Jack with a whisper. Jack's eyes widened even more, if possible. Jasne laughed at the state that was Jack Russell.

"Well, I know that my time is up, just as yours will be in...oh, say four hours?" Jasne guffawed and shouted an order to prison guard. Jack didn't need to hear what was said as the guard flashed by him in a hurry and a few moments later, Cross was looking triumphant at his release and smirked in victory at Jack before striding off, laughing with Jasne about something.

'Bloody suck up...' Jack thought before sighing at his fate, what would his sister think of him now? Adele was always there for him to control his temper for others but as of late, he had been ignoring her. It seemed that jail made you reflect on the people that had been part of your life as Jack concluded. It seemed that your dooming fate made you redemptive for another chance but knew deep inside, that you wouldn't have a chance to do so...

Jack once knew that joining the knights was a time of great honor; it was so when his father joined, and it was done when the knight's organizer, Larks Cordall, initiated it. When Jack was young, he spent time with his father and mother and Adele as he shared stories of how military life was when he had earned his leave from skirmishes with his target, the Blue Vareth. Now, he dreaded joining the knights. Rather, it was known as the _army..._

The army was infamous for forcing certain criminals and captured guild members in order to fight and die for them. They did it so willingly, from what the local paper, The Knight Gazette said but some knew better...though Jack only heard vague rumors...

-------------------------changescene------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Radiata Knights recruitment office: Dynas' office)

Meet Dynas Stone, 2nd in command to Larks Cordall and 1st class general to the Radiata Knights. He was currently reviewing some applicants of potential soldiers dropped off by them or by their families when a beep from his computer notified him of something. Dynas turned to his computer and found another e-mail from his lower subordinate, Ganz Rothschild asking him about using his commanding powers...again.

Dynas sighed, Ganz was the child of his superior when he was in a squad of soldiers. Dynas was in fact, the subordinate of one Captain Gawain Rothschild: Leader of the Rouge Lion air and vehicle squadron that was once a factor of the Radiata Knights. 'However' Dynas thought after a moment, his face pained as he drew some of the most horrifying memories. 'I won't think about it, must find a way to stop...'

Another beep was heard and Dynas groaned, fearing it was another question from his superior's son, but was proven wrong as he read the title on the piece of mail he received. Looking at the sender's name, Dynas was sure it came from those politicians working inside the government trying to dump more petty thieves and small time criminals onto his army and into hell itself.

He looked at the profile of his next charge and he gasped. Dynas thought he was looking at another inmate but this had broken his expectations. He swiftly ran out of the office and into the holding cell of one Jack Russell, son of Cairn Russell...

Well, how does this look like? Please try and review with any suggestions you might have. Thanks for your time.

Terra Ace.


	3. Ridley's hasty vow

Chapter Three: Ridley's vow

Ridley noticed the change in the school's atmosphere when she returned Monday morning to school. She noticed the aura of the school become darker, almost lifeless in her opinion. She noticed some students act like nothing was wrong but some eyed her with worry as if she would explain what was going on in this school when she herself had no idea.

She ventured out into the school's main courtyard and took a seat on one of the many benches put through out the schoolyard as she began to realize the day without Jack had started. Ridley tilted her head back to the sky and saw some commercial airplanes go by when she overheard some rather loud voices from around the building. Normally Ridley wouldn't care but perked up when she heard Jack's name mentioned.

Ridley peered one eye and found the twins, Elena and Adina discussing Jack's fate. They would usually drift out of the conversation by saying some meaningless drabble about other boys but somehow went back to Jack and started up all over again. Ridley seemed to tune out the useless info and sharpen her hearing at Jack's name.

"...Must suck for Jack, you know? Being set up like that." Elena said sadly and Ridley frowned at this, set up? Adina didn't seem to care too much but agreed to it as well.

"I wonder why they let out Cross when he was clearly the instigator of this fight. Jack's probably there suffering in that jail cell, waiting for the army to tell him to get up and join in their suicide squads fighting those beasts of guilds." Elena seemed to be stuck on something and Ridley smiled, it was clear that Adina was the smarter twin and kept talking until Elena asked.

"Um..Adina?" She asked with a blank look to her sister, Adina stopped herself and with a knowing sigh she waited for the question.

"What does instigator mean?" Elena asked as if she was a student and her sister was the teacher. Adina sighed and grumbled about 'stupid twins' and so forth.

"I think you should have been born second, instead of first...anyway, instigator means..." Ridley then again tuned out until Jack's name was mentioned once again.

"...oh, well ok then...hey Adina?" Adina stopped again for the next question.

"Is it true that General Stone got Jack out?" Adina nodded and Ridley let out a silent gasp at Jack's relieved fate. Perhaps he was coming back? Ridley could only hope...

"Yeah, but he wasn't able to spring him out of serving in the army though...poor Jack." Ridley seemed to think that Adina was harboring feelings for Jack but brushed it off as jealousy and continued to listen in.

"He is serving as a rifleman in Ganz Rothschild's squad–"Elena was cut off by Adina's snort of laughter.

"Ganz Rothschild! Isn't he that dunderheaded janitor from our last school?" Adina said with a laughing sound and finished with a grin. Elena didn't seem happy about this though.

"Hey! Uncle Ganz is a good captain, don't make fun of him!" Elena defended her 'Uncle' Ganz as Adina seemed to quiet down a little bit.

"Just because he was kind to you doesn't mean he isn't a dunderhead. Though I am happy for him though, becoming an army captain, but still..." Adina trailed off worried for the clumsy, but lovable fat man. Elena sighed and completely switched the topic to 'Uncle' Ganz again and never mentioned Jack again.

Ridley pulled back and started to piece together what the twins said. According to them, Jack was set up but by who? Also he was set free by General Dynas Stone, a member of the army that often visits the Silverlake Estate. Jack also seems to a grunt under Ganz Rothschild's command and the commander seems to be a bit...inexperienced to say the least.

But who could do such a thing? Jack was pretty much lovable when he wasn't being the object of lust among the girls. Though it seems that her dad wasn't so upbeat whenever Ridley mentions her boyfriend...

Ridley let out an audible gasp, her father! He always was happy to see her daughter but seemed to be put out or annoyed whenever Jack came over for dinner or when picking her up for a date...

'So my father did this? But why? What could he hold against him...?' Ridley asked these silent questions all day in her head but as to keep from being monotone in her thoughts, she changed some words or thought deeper motives to being so.

Later that evening, Ridley sat in her room writing a letter General Stone when Jasne, her father and prime suspect in Ridley's mind knocked on the door and smiled a triumphant smile at her like if he did something that merited some praise from her.

"Hello, Ridley dear! How is my fine daughter doing?" He asked sweetly but his eyes shown anything but. Deciding to play this game, Ridley answered with a cheerful, but slightly suspicious hello.

"Ridley, would you come downstairs for a moment, your boyfriend will simply love to see you!" Jasne said happily while Ridley looked confused, Jack was in prison or in the army by now. Wasn't he?

Following the game Jasne played, Ridley began to doubt her suspicions about her father. Perhaps it was a joke between them? If it was, then Jack was so going to get it! Ridley thought furiously but was pleased at the budding friendship between the two. Of course, her doubtful suspicions returned to full blast when she Cross where Jack would be and her father looking pleased with himself as if he discovered the cure to Algandars.

Ridley then put two and two together and gasped. IT was true! But now wasn't the time, she had to confront her father right now!

"Where's Jack? I thought my BOYFRIEND was here, not this drugged up reject." Ridley said with a harsh tone but either her father didn't mind or her father didn't even listen as he continued to talk with Cross while was peering at her in an disturbing way. Ridley was shocked to see her father paying no heed as if he hardly cared that Cross was probably mentally undressing his one and only daughter from this...man.

"Now Cross, my boy. I would like to discuss our family's future when Ridley is old enough to be wed to yourself..." Jasne's voice trailed off to the den which Cross happily followed as the two chatted away as Ridley was left in shock and disgust at her father's actions.

'How DARE he! He knows that Jack is my boyfriend! He...he doesn't care at all.' Ridley thought sadly at her father's rapidly declining respect for herself and vice versa at him as she left crying for her room. Her tears wouldn't stop coming as she had been foolish to believe anything that would at least attempt a relationship between her father and her boyfriend.

"Haha! The plan has gone well, I presume?" A voice interrupted her tears and self pity thoughts as she stopped crying and listened from upstairs the conversation that made it's way back to the foyer of the estate.

"Yes lord Jasne, my parents believe that we were only separated because of the jail time and have continued their plans on making a wedding between me and Ridley." Cross' voice. Ridley gasped in shock at the revelation and anger at her father's knowledge of it. She could hear her father chuckle in victory.

"Well, as long as they don't find out about your "Separation" from Ridley and yourself as we shred any evidence saying otherwise." Jasne's voice was practically unveiling their plans unsuspecting to Ridley's eavesdropping self. Ridley let a stray thought fly by as it seemed that she was particularly good at this sort of thing before shaking it off and hearing no more of this vile plan.

Ridley deleted the letter she was sending to General Stone and wrote up an entirely different new one. Explaining about her bastard of a father's plan to marry off her to Cross and somewhat 'uniting' the Silverlake and the Ward families. Due to you being the reader and I the author, we get to see the letter seconds before it was sent.

_General Dynas:_

_You must not tell anyone about this, but I am running away to find Jack. It seemed that he was intentionally framed for his crime and I want to bring him home from prison or from the army or wherever he is! If you can stop that, then please release him, and try to knock some sense into my father, as he seems delusional. If not, then don't say anything about my whereabouts as you truly wouldn't know._

_I'll come back, with Jack in tow,_

_Ridley._

And with that, ladies and gentlemen is the letter she sent to Dynas as she escaped through the night from her window on the second floor, searching for Jack from the last known position, the North gate police station...only one question flooded her mind.

"Where's Jack?"

After the spoken question, she began a hasty vow to find Jack and cut off ties between her father and that creep Cross and perhaps run away with Jack...perhaps she was pushing it at marriage but hey, a girl could dream right?

It was early morning when Jasne saw Ridley's room devoid of her and the window opened wide. Jasne then quickly assumed that she had run away and called for the police that were in his pay to look for his precious daughter. Stunned and enraged at her daughter's unusual brash move, he began to realize that Jack was somehow responsible and made sure to attempt a gap between him and Ridley...

Meanwhile, Jack was busy training under Ganz's aloof but stern eye as he began his basics in combat training...

Thank you for the...limited reviews! Next we see part two of Ridley's vow, entitled "Jack's new day"! I hope to see an improvement from limited to a little more!


	4. Jack's new day

Chapter Four: Jack's New Day (or Ridley's Vow II)

When we last left, Ridley made her way out of the home that she shared with her father. Jasne Colton was furious and summoned all of his corrupt police forces to bring back Ridley and if possible, terminate Jack Russell.

However, we focus now on Jack's new day...

It was mid-afternoon in Jack's new life as a training foot grunt in Radiata's Knight Army. It wasn't so much different from high school, Jack pondered as his body automatically proceeded with his push-ups for the day. He woke up around the same time as he did each morning, ate an adequate amount of food and hell, he even made a new friend in his army captain!

However one thing was missing, and that was Ridley...

The first day he came here was by a lucky break. General Dynas Stone was coincidentally visiting the jail room when he beckoned Jack to him. As Jack stood up, Dynas opened the jail cell's door and escorted him out with the pretense of coming in to dump him in with the rest of the suicide squads of _the Army..._

That wasn't so, as Jack heard Dynas say when they climbed aboard the army Jeep that Dynas took to be here. He said that it was an e-mail with the latest "Recruits" that he saw his profile and immediately got him out as soon as possible. It was also with a sad note that by doing so, Jack was to enlist immediately into the army and join the fight against the guilds.

Jack was torn, he owed his life to the General, but he didn't want to go against the guild that protected his small farm town. Jack voiced his concern to the General that he would gladly serve into any attack but except against his home town and the Orange Vancoor.

The General sighed and said,

"I can't make any promises but fortunate for that region, the Vancoor have always focused their attacks against the invading forces from the Blue Vareth. The other guilds are too focused on Radiata city and against each other to pay attention to the Vancoor."

While that didn't sway Jack anymore to either cause, he kept silent and nodded at the General's nod. The General soon drove up to a massive castle which meant they arrived at Radiata's main headquarters. Jack noted that it also doubled up as a research lab and as the army's training grounds.

"Now Jack, you know that you have to enlist. However, I'll put you into a newly formed squadron of the army. You will be placed with Captain Ganz Rothschild of the Vehicle and Ground branch of Radiata's army. It is in my office of power, so you won't be easily whisked away into a fight." Jack sighed in relief and trusted the General as he filled out the official forms and was escorted personally by the General into the another office with a large man named Ganz...

It was three weeks since the introduction to the captain and it was going really well. Instead of the stout, seemingly cold exterior of most commanding officers, Ganz was friendly and a bit naive to the outside world. The captain was also quite the conversationalist, as the first task was to tell about themselves some more. From what Jack learned, Ganz had a pampered life. He was the son of famous captain Gawain Rothschild and having a life of luxury had little affect in the man's judgement and character. In fact, instead of being a snob and acting like if he is the president. (I.E. Jasne Colton) Ganz was cheerful and kind to almost everyone! On the downside (Upside for Jack), Ganz did sport an obsession for liquor and various other drinks...by other drinks, I meant beer...

Anyway, back on track here! Jack was now finished with his thoughts and push-ups and proceeded to jog his three mile run across around the base's track field, all the while thinking that the castle had more room than what he originally thought.

Soon he stopped in front of his captain and saluted with his hand. Captain Ganz saluted with a stout face as he was struggling to keep a smile from breaking out. Jack smiled inwardly, he caught the captain practicing that face and had waited until now to use it.

"Attention!" Jack was brought from his thoughts and his body stood rigid. "Excellent! Now then Jack, I have received special permission from the General to begin training in our vehicle program! First we start with the basics." Ganz paused to see the eager look in his only soldier's eyes and knew that he was waiting for this.

"Can you tell me what kind of shell does our standard tank equip themselves with?" He continued, pointing to a large tank; The tank had seen battle for sure and was covered in knicks and dents as well the occasional blackened scorch marks that the base's mechanics weren't able to cover with new parts. It looked like it was to be heading for the scrap heap, but inside it was a strong machine.

"Yes Sir! It is the M1A1 Abrams model tank! It's standard shell is the 120mm depleted uranium round, sir!" Jack said with a bit of information than what the chuckling captain asked for.

"Yes, very good Jack! This was a bit more than expected but informative! This tank is the latest of our standard tanks, and has been in service for about a decade or so. However, our researchers at Research and Development have just started experimentation into our Hover Tank Program. It should be ready within the year or so. With any luck, we could be one of the first to drive them!" Ganz said with an excitement of his own.

"Until that happens, we will continue training–" Ganz was cut off by a young feminine voice gasping with surprise. Both men turned and found a young woman staring at Jack with a startled look while Jack's face turned into a smile. The lady then rushed over to Jack and hugged him while another large man was looking between a look of jealousy and...no, that's what it was.

"Oh my god! Jack Russell!" The young lady was firing questions one by one in rapid succession as Jack tried to answer them all. They were interrupted by both Ganz and the large man's "clearing of their throats".

"Excuse me, Captain Nannette but what are you doing with my soldier?" The Captain asked in a formal tone. One that was completely wasted on her to Jack's amusement.

"This was one of my friend's boyfriend, Jack Russell. He was dating her at the time and I was like a mentor to him in Senior High." Natalie said with an air of rebelliousness, it seemed that the sporty young girl that Jack knew as a freshman was still going strong.

"Ah!...C-captain!! Please treat your superiors with respect!" The large man known now as Leonard was failing to chastise Natalie. Jack noticed that the flabby, crush struck boy was replaced by a toned out, still crushing man...and that Natalie was still completely oblivious to Leonard's affections...

Natalie rolled her eyes, but was composed. "I am sorry, Captain Rothschild. It won't happen again...either way, captain I have some news for you." Ganz perked up at this, perhaps they were finally joining the front lines!?

"Commander Larks wants you and your...soldier to gear up in two days and join the campaign northeast. He said to "End the qualms" between the Orange Vancoor and the Radiata Knights in the region and relocate there until they stop." With that, Natalie saluted and marched off with Leonard still sputtering off reprimands toward his captain. Ganz looked serious and then started to cheer. Jack noted that it was probably the first thing they were to do since their official squadron was formed. The Rose Cochon...

'Oh boy, I wonder if the captain knows what it means...probably not.' Jack thought as the capatain started to dance.

"Yes! We're finally in on a mission, Jack! Alright then, let us go over the basics one more time and then we'll head off toward the Nowem Region and begin our mission in two days." Ganz then started drilling on the basics on a handgun and the standard M-16 Rifle that Jack will use for combat should the need arise.

Though, for that need happens often thought Jack grimly as he continued listening to the absolutely fascinating history of the M-16 Rifle...

Ridley was having a tough time, but finally managed to locate the whereabouts of Jack's location. Surprisingly infuriating for Ridley as it turns out that it was only a twenty minute walk from her home instead of the three hour bus-ride and walk to the north gate police station. Ridley discreetly disguised her eyes with a pair of shades and styled her hair into a ponytail with a hat on top and asked the clerk/guard about Jack.

The guard was suspicious but relented to the girls' pleas and pulled out the file on Jack Russell. Ridley knew that Jack was sometimes the victim as well as the starter of fights, but this was astounding! According to the file, there were a lot of fights on his record...and probably more that wasn't accounted.

"T-two hundred and sixty seven fights?! Oh Jack..." Ridley was nodding between disappointment and pride that Jack was attacked by all these people and that he beat nearly all of them. Ridley noticed that it circled between Cross and several boys who had their hearts crushed at their girlfriends leaving them for an attempt with Jack Russell. Ridley fended off all of the girls and was quite disturbed when some of these people were twenty one or older and seeking revenge or interest in Jack when he was only sixteen.

'Well, at least Jack knows hand to hand combat.' Ridley thought and laughed softly at Jack's talent. Ridley then left soon after and began walking toward Radiata City's army grounds. She was determined to have Jack back home, one way or the other...

The next day, Jack was heading toward the designated meeting spot that the captain had pointed out. As he headed toward the firing range, Jack began thinking about the others at the school and Ridley.

He wondered if Ridley was doing fine without him...was she holding out for his return or had moved on?

'No! No, you idiot! Ridley wouldn't leave you, she loves you too much and you love her!' His mind had violently destroyed the feelings of doubt so much that Jack felt a slight twinge of a headache. Jack groaned and finally got settled as he approached the firing range. Jack's captain, Ganz was waiting with a rifle in his hands.

"Ah, Jack! About time you've arrived! Ok, lets get started on some practical drills. Stand behind the yellow line, kneel and fire as much as you can into the still target over there." Ganz told him as Jack did so. He kneeled down and without looking into the tiny metal scope, opened fire at the target. Ganz frowned, perhaps he was expecting too much of him. After all, he did show talent at hand to hand combat with one of the instructors.

'He can even match Jeff! Ah well, at least I'll have something to do...'Ganz then ordered Jack to stop and gave him some tips on how to use the weapon's scope to better aim. Jack did so and was amazed at how accurate his bullets hit the wooden target. Ganz was impressed at how the aimed rounds were hitting close to the painted bulls-eye and not sporadically as before. Ganz waved his hand to stop and started to clear his throat.

"Ahem! Alright Jack, it seems that you've improved on that weapon, now let's see if you can handle...this one!" At this, Ganz loaded a magazine clip from one of the shelves into a larger rifle and handed it to Jack, who buckled a tiny bit due to it's weight.

"That is one of our advance rifles that R&D had developed. It is essentially another M-16 but with some upgrades. First, the rifle's rounds are sharper and deadlier, and the scope is upgraded to have a tiny laser point for added weapon aim." Ganz stopped for a moment before continuing.

"This is a limited weapon, as it was discontinued since my father's disappearance-" Ganz was cut off by Jack's sudden question.

"Who was your dad?" Ganz hesitated a bit, he wasn't sure if his father's identity was to be disclosed so quickly...

"My father's name was Gawain Rothschild of the Rouge Lion. He disappeared around the time the Project Enjela weapon was fired upon the research lab that my father was invading." Jack's eyes widened at this.

"Your dad was caught in it's blast? Wow, we have more in common...my dad was Cairn Russell of Blanc Chevalier." It was Ganz' turn to widen his eyes.

'R-really? You're his son? I see...well at least we're here to live up to our fathers, eh?" Jack nodded sadly as each remembered their fathers...unknown of their fates...

The next day came too quickly for Jack's taste. It was the day that both himself and the captain were to ship off onto the Nowem region for their campaign. It felt like a scene from a movie as it began to rain as he met up with the captain in his official gear for combat.

Ganz was readily equipped with a large, dense piece of body armor that offered protection from normal fire from most infantry guns. He carried a large bazooka that Jack hasn't seen since he met him in his office. Jack instantly recognized the bazooka from a plaque that was under it, it belonged to his father, Gawain... To finish off Ganz' commando attire, he wore large combat boots and pants that seemed to hold a piece of metal where the kneecaps were supposed to be.

Jack also had standard rifleman attire as well. You know, the bullet proof vest and shoulder guards for the more powerful weapons that might also offer protection against enemy fire. He held the advanced rifle that he was presented earlier yesterday on his back with a strap supporting it. He figured since he had no weapon that related to his father, this weapon was as close as he was going to get to his father's weapon of choice.

'Wish me luck, dad' Jack thought as he saluted his captain and looked around to see many of the soldiers' families seeing them off and tearing up at their farewells. Some soldiers were heartbroken to have to let go of their families and especially their children. Jack noticed that he was to leave if he hasn't anyone to see him off, so he dejectedly turned toward the waiting airplane until a hand stopped him.

Jack turned and saw Ganz' smiling face and turned him around to a familiar blonde haired girl and pushed him gently-okay, roughly-in front of Ridley. Jack was shocked, he was sure it was an illusion until Ridley socked him hard in the arm. The pain was proof enough, though the fierce hug and kiss on the cheek helped too.

"Jack! I finally found you, and it took so long!" Ridley was murmuring loudly into Jack's shoulder as if she was talking to herself. Jack didn't mind, as long as she was there then he was happy. At least it didn't leave him wondering if she was alright, though she was soaking wet. Still, she was beautiful in that way to Jack.

"Ridley...Ridley darling." Jack shook her slightly as she opened her eyes. She also believed that it was real and not a mirage as Ridley sighed and stepped away and started to plead her case, even if it was futile.

"Jack, come home please! I-I don't know what to do. My father was setting you up and he wants me to marry Cross! I-I..." Ridley was sobbing as the events were catching up to her. Jack looked on sadly and concern on his face as he looked to the captain for help. The captain, overhearing their distress called over a soldier and gave him orders to find someone.

Twenty minutes later, a large car rode up and out came General Dynas Stone. He was donned in standard military clothes meant for a General with a large black coat and a matching umbrella. He strode over to where Jack and Ridley stood, eyes closed and just holding each other. It almost seemed wrong to separate them...

"Captain Rothschild, Mr. Russell, Miss Silverlake." he greeted each one with a nod. Ganz returned that nod and Jack and Ridley were surprised at the voice. Dynas sighed and told them that they have to get to their destinations as soon as possible.

Ridley, distraught over their separation had hugged Jack fiercely and gave him a long, sweet kiss before departing to the general's side. Jack smiled and wordlessly promised that he would be back and he would find a way to sort this mess before joining the captain in one final salute.

As the General saluted back, Ridley posed a question,

"General?"

"Yes, miss Silverlake?" Dynas asked with a touch of sadness. Ridley must be going through a lot of things right now.

"Jack told me that you were sending him to Nowem, on a campaign..." Dynas looked up in shock, that wasn't right...

"I'm sorry? I thought that they were to remain in the base. The Nowem helicopter left three days ago..." Ridley looked alarmed...Jack was going...

"But...that's not possible. He was ordered to go into that plane over there by your orders through someone else." General Stone shook his head, telling her that there was no such thing done.

Ridley, astounded rushed toward the plane. She started off too late as the plane's rotors started and rolled over the runway. Ridley was chasing after them shouting "Jack!! Come back!!" though her shouts were drawn over by the loud whirrs of the plane's rotors.

Meanwhile, Dynas was furiously questioning Natalie about the order to the verge of her tearing up. Leonard, torn between the love of his life (in his dreams) and his commander didn't know who to support. Though he came to a decision and started to shield Natalie from Dynas' fury. Dyans could hear parts of conversation from the sputtering girl.

"I-I don't know! One of the officers gave me a piece of paper that told me to tell them that the plane was to head for the Nowem Campaign! It had your signature and even the Commander had signed it! It was given to him by a politician, I think his name was Jasper or something..." Natalie said this before breaking down in sobs as Leonard was living his dream: Comforting Natalie in his arms.

"Jasper? No...Jasne!" Dynas was rushing over, without his umbrella to Ridley, who was still saying "Jack...come back." over and over again.

"Miss Silverlake, I know where Jack is going." Ridley looked up, knowing that nothing could bring him back.

"It seems that your father had manipulated one of my officers and told her that the plane they are on was to head to the Nowem region. I know for a fact that the plane was holding some prisoners and that they were heading for the Tria desert." Ridley was appalled at her father's latest crime. How could he? Thought Ridley and voiced it as well.

"Though he did do it, we can't pin it until we find the original form. It looks like it will take all of Jack and Ganz' training to survive in the Tria Campaign..." The General looked toward the sky and saw the plane shrink until it was nowhere as visible.

'Good luck, Ganz and Jack, you will need every bit of it...' The General than stood up and offered Ridley a ride to his office. Ridley was no longer sobbing, but had a hint of sadness as well as determination in her eyes. It was the look of a woman scorned by her father in his way to her happiness...and Dynas was to help her in any way he can.


	5. A long way from home

Chapter Five: A Long Way From Home...

While the General and Ridley were returning to Dynas' office, Jack and Ganz were blissfully (as much as you can get from this) heading North-east towards the Nowem Region...or so they thought.

Jack didn't notice what was wrong until the plane started to sharply turn left when they were supposed to turn right making it go South-west instead of their supposed destination. As such, he immediately told the Captain and went toward the cockpit.

"Hey!" Jack tapped a man who was snoozing at the controls. The pilot wasn't really supposed to be sleeping; but there he was and he was really dependant toward the auto-pilot...

Of course, waking a pilot up didn't have the desired affect that Ganz and Jack hoped for. The pilot had panicked and started fumbling for something and at last pulled out a tranquilizer gun. He shouted and several shots rang out. Jack felt a pain in his arm and was losing consciousness rapidly as he faintly heard someone fall to the floor and heard nor saw anymore as he finally blacked out...

"...excuse me, but please wake up. You are on top of me..." That soft, but sweet voice woke Jack up and he sat up abruptly. He instantly regretted it as a massive headache erupted inside his head; it felt like a eating an ice cream too fast and it was laced with Nyquil! He groaned and found himself in a tiny cell on board the plane that earlier today was sharing a ride with his Captain...

"Huh?...How did I get here?" Jack asked warily, he turned towards the sound of the voice earlier and saw a young girl dressed in a school uniform with the Blue Vareth insignia on it. The girl had blonde hair tied in a single ponytail with a braid holding it together, her biggest standout was the large glasses she wore; round, with a crack in one lens. It hit Jack that he was in the prisoner's hold. To Jack, the girl seemed to have lived in better times before she ended up here. The tears in the Blue Vareth uniform said that as well as the glasses. The girl immediately started to blush under the curious stare and held her large tome in front of her chest like a shield. Getting the hint, Jack looked away, embarrassed...

Jack "coughed" and tried to start a conversation. "So, uh...what's your name?" The girl, who looked like she was recovering from her blush, started to glow red as she stuttered out her name.

"L-leona. Leona Weissheit." The girl, Leona, kept holding her tome in front of her chest. Jack nodded and started to drift out of saying things before Leona kept the conversation up with a small giggle and said.

"You know, not many try and break out so early in the flight. We usually try and breakout...oh around halfway." Leona laughed, thinking that he was a new prisoner. Jack laughed uncertainly, not knowing whether to break the news to her. She obviously had experience escaping the plane, but he wasn't so sure of his skills.

"Leona? I'm Jack, Jack Russell. Nice to meet you." Jack said, shaking her hand with his own. When he let go, he failed to notice a small look of disappointment cross her features before breaking out into a small smile. Jack smiled too and looked around their prison cell.

"You...aren't a prisoner, are you?" Leona asked, suddenly afraid. Jack was confused, but shook his head. Leona suddenly looked sad and was on the verge on tearing up. Jack suddenly felt bad; I mean he would be feel bad if he was part of the faction that was against them and probably someone had forced the young girl as well...

"Why did they put you in here? Shouldn't you be with those other callous pigs?! Lounging around in their luxury style rooms..." Leona asked bitterly...and to her surprise, Jack started to laugh. Leona was confused, perhaps Jack wasn't stable-headed?

"If that was true, then the captain wouldn't have to share a room with the other soldiers!!" Jack said while laughing. Leona huffed but grew curious when the laughing started and stopped as fast as it began when Jack had looked toward one of the planes portholes. The plane was originally held to insert air into livestock but has since been used as prisoner transports...

"I didn't join the army on my own. It was a crazy scheme by my girlfriend's father, who seems to absolutely hate me. The old bastard set me up and was about to immediately be shipped off until a man saved my life. I owed him my life and enlisted to pay him back for the strange sense of kindness." Jack spoke seriously.

Leona was confused about the conflicting emotions inside of head and heart. Her mind screamed as the suspicions she had at first, but her heart told her to believe the young man in front of her. Her heart also told her sadly that he wasn't able to return any affections that she might have for him in the future...although it never stopped her from having them any time soon...

Leona listened with her heart and believed him as she started to ask him questions about his life. When Jack asked the same, she was surprised at how close they got and began to tell him things about her life that she wouldn't tell about to anyone else.

Jack learned that Leona had a brother; a man named Genius Weissheit and that he was working for Blue Vareth as a spy inside the Radiata Army's research team. "Unfortunately" Leona said with a hint of sadness, that she hadn't heard of him or his research double spy; a woman named Morgan from at least six months after their last report.

Jack held no sympathy for the army aside for Ganz and Dynas. He told her in surprising confidence that he was living rough until his girlfriend, Ridley brought him out of the stupor for a short time until her father got seemingly jealous and hatched this conspiracy against him.

"You know, it was probably not a coincidence that all of them belonged to Cross' gang." Jack said with an angry laugh. Not knowing who this Cross was, Leona asked. Jack was surprised by this but thought that she was living inside the Blue Vareth's school and started to describe him.

"Cross Ward...huh. Well let's just say he ain't all right inside his head. He was a really timid kid, you know the type; self-conscious, really not a genius except for a few answers and some odd quirks. He also was crushing on my girlfriend, well best friend back then. After encouraging him to ask her out, he changed completely. He became extremely paranoid and kept flaunting Ridley in front of everyone, including me. He also got really possessive over her and started using a lot of drugs, mainly halogens and kept buying vodka." Jack paused and Leona thought that he was choking up when he was really controlling his rage.

"He also started to sprout lies to make Ridley and me hate each other. It almost worked, except I overheard the plan..." Leona almost was sucked into the memory as Jack started to retell it...

-Flashback: One year ago-

_Jack was not having a good day, but then again in these times who wasn't? Ridley and himself had another major fight between them, each of them saying things that weren't exactly true and each time had Ridley off in the arms of Cross...leaving Jack to fend off the vicious hurt of the lies that Ridley told, fed to them by Cross._

_Cross, hmph! Jack thought angrily, he once helped the guy by making the mistake of his life. At first, Jack was going to ask Ridley on a first date but began having doubts when nervous then Cross asked for advice on how to ask Ridley out. Suppressing feelings of jealousy and heartbreak, he decided to help the guy out. Of course, it all blew up in his face as Cross began to swirl out of control into the state he was in._

_Jack was also saddened at how Ridley took in his every word as truth and perceived Jack as if he was in Cross' state of binge drinking and drug user. He also felt anger that Elena and himself had another fight earlier that week before angrily breaking it off with her and was surprised to learn that he was dating Adina at that time and the Elena blamed him for all of those "Missed" dates that they planned for._

'_How the hell was I supposed to know which was which?! They dress exactly alike!' Jack said as he stomped toward Ridley and Jack's meeting spot and started to sit in those swings that forged a friendship between himself and Ridley._

"_Hm...more like ex-friend now...I mean, how could she believe that I said I thought that I was using pity on her to be her friend, that is a total lie! She had pity on me!...I think." Jack vented in anger and finished in shame as he said something that they both knew wasn't true. Jack sighed and went toward the school once more ignoring Ridley as she passed him alone. Though Ridley made an effort in showing dislike for him, Jack was deep in thought as he focused on his thoughts and not in the surrounding area. Needless to say, Ridley was surprised and saddened at her ex-friend' s cold ignorance..._

_Jack headed toward an old tree to see if Elena would give him another chance when he heard laughter from behind the music building. Jack was curious and started to overhear some of the loud voices each explaining their useless info...until Jack heard Cross' voice. From the sound of it, Cross was high._

"_Heh eh eh heh. I'm almost there boys! One more! One more and I'm rid of that punk forever...ever...ever. What a funny word, Ever!" Cross said and laughed while the other three, seemingly a mix of high and drunk people, laughed along. Finally one asked a question...seemingly hard for someone as drunk but he did it anyway._

"_H-hey Cross. How goes the lie telling...thing. And-and what about the juggling?" The boy slurred stupidly. Jack wasn't sure how, but Cross seemed to understand perfectly and started to brag again._

"_Yeah! I had to lie to Ridley and that...that stupid punk Jack as well to keep Ridley mine forever! I need one big lie...but I dunno what to say...eh! It'll come to me...me. For the juggles, well it was easy stealing that girl...what was her name?...Natles?...no Natalie!" Jack frowned and shook in anger. Ridley was being played, and so was he! That...that...dick!_

_Cross kept talking to a now asleep group. "Anyways, I think I'll take her to that old swing set that Jock and Ridely kept talking about_..._maybe I'll take her then...eh?! Hahahaheh!" Cross finished and slumped to the floor, finally exhausted from bragging. Jack had no other choice; scorned or no scorned, Ridley had to be told the truth!_

_Jack found Ridley crying at the swing set they went to when they met. It used to be part of the playground, but since then it was in disrepair. Jack tapped a surprised Ridley which quickly turned into a sneering Ridley. It scared Jack a bit to how well the sneer matched the one used by Ridley's dad, Jasne._

"_What do you want, Russell?" Ridley said coldly as Jack flinched. Jack had to steel his nerves however and started to tell her about Cross' plans. As expected, Ridley didn't believe squat about it and started to tell him off._

"_How dare you!! I hoped that you weren't a two faced liar, but this tears it!! Cross is such a gentlemen for me and you are just trying to tear us apart!" Ridley slapped Jack here and to say that didn't hurt emotionally was a total lie. "Don't fucking come near me again, Jack! Screw you and get out of here!" Ridley said and started to stalk away. Jack was hurt, both physically at the slap and emotionally from just how far the lies went. Telling himself that this was for Ridley's good, he shouted at her not in anger, but as a plea._

"_Ridley!! If I'm such a liar, then I'll leave!! Just come back here around after school!!" Ridley only responded by flipping him off and Jack felt really lonely all of a sudden...He quickly made for the bus stop that took him to Adele's house and went to sleep until the eventual showdown between Cross and Ridley..._

_The next morning, Jack woke up early...which confused him but he wrote it off as a mix of spite and excitement at the upcoming event. Adele noticed the early riser and to say she was suspicious was putting it nicely._

_Adele Russell is the last remaining Russell besides Jack himself. Adele, like himself was always interested in the old stories their father kept telling them and was saddened at the death of their mother and father, though their father's death was never official._

_She somewhat inherited her father's type of questioning: Always to the point, never around. Immediately she said a single question laced with such will and force that Jack found himself spilling what was going on. Adele sighed at the answer and just told Jack to be careful and let him off just like that. Jack paid no heed and got ready for another day of school..._

_Jack was thankful that Ridley was only in his homeroom and not in any of his classes so it was really easy to avoid her. Then the show began..._

_Jack was having a lot of emotions for Ridley right now...and it was scaring him._

_First he felt anger at his friend's pure hatred against him..._

_Second he felt hate at Cross and Ridley's gullibility for him..._

_Next he felt fear at Ridley's reaction after the fact was revealed to her..._

_Finally he felt shame and sadness at one time after the look of the crashing world around her was happening in just a short while assuming that Ridley took his advice..._

_Showtime..._

_Jack saw Cross lead Natalie Nanette, a high school senior and a total ditz to other reason than her own was giggling at a lame joke that Cross made and started to make out heavily with her with a furious Leonard Ford at the side of a building trying his hardest to not be seen...it failed spectacularly as his round gut was protruding from the side when he leaned toward them._

'_That boy...needs to lose a lot of weight if wants to become a spy...' Jack said while looking at Leonard's attempt at eavesdropping. He turned back toward the kissing couple and looked to the left...hoping that Ridley would think their friendship was worth at least this final plea...and there she was in three...two...one..._

"_What the Hell?!" Ridley's voice echoed throughout the park. Children immediately picked up the phrase and headed toward their parents to ask what it meant, old people looked at the sky and believed that it spoke to them but went back to playing chess, dominoes or old style poker._

_Jack looked on in amusement at Cross' whimpering and Natalie's shock as she explained that she didn't know a damn thing about them. Ridley, Cross and Jack himself had to wonder if she really was that oblivious..._

_The smack from Natalie just had enough force to knock Cross out and Ridley told an unconscious Cross that they were over. Jack stood silently as Ridley started to realize her world had shattered and was close to tearing up...and there it went, she started to cry..._

_Jack had enough shame on his conscious and started to turn away when he heard his name being called. It was a desperate call from Ridley to Jack, but for some reason, he could feel the slap on him again and he tried to run but he stood still..._

"_Jack. Please..." Ridley said trying to grab him on the shoulder. As soon as she did, Ridley was shocked and scared. The fate of their friendship was on the verge of collapsing and it was all up to Jack..._

_Ridley held back a sob as Jack rubbed the left part of his face; it was after all where she slapped him...her silent tears flowed from her as Jack gently removed her hand and walked away with only a few words..._

"_Not yet, Ridley...not yet." with that said, Jack had to painfully walk away from Ridley's heartbreaking sobs..._

_The next few days were awkward for both Jack and Ridley. For Ridley it was painful; Cross kept trying to control her by using lies, but each time Ridley tried to tell him off, Cross kissed her forcefully. Once the kisses were sweet, but now it was full of tobacco and alcohol. Ridley wondered how she ever thought this sweet..._

_The part that was very painful for her was that this was planned. Cross always picked the time to force himself on her just as Jack was passing by. Ridley was trying to break away but by the time she did, Jack was silently walking away, not hearing Ridley's shouts._

_On the day that was supposed to be the last before spring break, Ridley decided to walk to the old swing sets to where it began...and ended the friendship between herself and Jack._

'_Damn him!...and damn myself for believing it! I am so sorry Jack...' Ridley thought as the tears tried to come up again. It stopped as she saw Jack sitting there next to where Ridley used to sit and it just broke her heart to see it so...empty and cold. A simple gesture of course, but it was all she could do as she sat next to the empty swing beside Jack. Ridley looked with sad eyes at the once bright-eyed friend she once had such dull brown eyes. A faint imprint of the slap could still be seen on his left face._

_They sat in silence for a while, with Ridley looking at him asking for his forgiveness in silence. Jack sighed and stood up. Ridley, still looking for a spark of life inside of those eyes watched as she almost gave up on ever repairing her friendship when she heard a voice ask._

"_Aren't you coming? It's almost dark you know." Ridley looked up and saw a small spark in Jack's eyes. He had a faint smile and held his hand out to her. Ridley, instead of taking it his offered hand, leapt and started to cry on Jack's shoulder and hugged the life out of him with Jack doing the same, except his tears was coming only slower and on Ridley's head._

_...a brittle wall became steel as the friendship was rebuilt once again. Jack and Ridley were standing still with each other until dark well settled and the streetlights were coming on when they did let go. Ridley was teary and red from crying and Jack was almost the same with a large damp spot on Jack's shoulder and a bit damp on Ridley's head. Jack closed his eyes and held Ridley like an old buddy and said:_

"_Ridley, we are such idiots..." To that, Ridley laughed and nodded. They walked home hand in hand..._

_The following week, the school and it's students found a very lively Jack Russell and a very happy Ridley Silverlake and found that their friendship was completely revived and even stronger! Not even Cross, who had woken up inside of a hospital room with a healing jaw, could not force Ridley away as she always stuck by Jack. Hell, he couldn't even force his mouth upon hers as she had Jack to protect her from even getting close! It seemed he had lost..._

_Cross was furious!!! Forget being a nice guy! It was time to remove Jack...permanently! With his cracked mind, he began planning his murder attempt of Jack using a poorly executed plan...in fact it kinda looked like this:_

_Plan kill jack: By Cross the great!_

_A. Steal Godwin's car._

_B. Find Jack._

_C. Smash his body into the school!!!_

_D. Laugh and make out with Ridley_

_Cross chose tomorrow and began to sleep with dreams of mass murdering Jack and his various copies that appeared to line up with a crazed Cross subjecting them to a conveyor belt for the Radiata City meat factory... He also dreamt of selling Jack's entrails and becoming a millionaire with Ridley and himself feasting on one of Jack's products...yeah I know, creepy as hell, huh?_

_The next morning Jack was not feeling well and had to stay close to the nurse's office with Ridley staying with him at every break they had until it was after the bell. Jack had no intention of going outside and stayed by the stairwell next Ridley who was talking softly when they heard a large CRASH! Forgetting his illness, Jack and Ridley went towards the sound and saw a large unknown Janitor being led away in an ambulance with a broken leg and Cross being wrestled to the ground by four police officers all the while screaming "Ridley! Ridley!!" Cross looked like a wild animal before spotting Ridley. He struggled and was being slowly pulled away by the police as he kept screaming to be let go._

"_Ridley!! Ridley, my love!!! you'll get me out right?! Right!" Cross was just about screaming now and one of the officers just about tripped him and all four used their Taser Guns to put an end to the boy's loud voice. Ridley and Jack were watching in amusement as they none too gently shove Cross into the back seat of the squad car and the two sets of police rode away from the school with shocked teachers and a fuming principal Godwin at the state of his car._

_Ridley and Jack slowly decided that kicking it after school was not the best idea after all..._

_As the months passed; from spring, to summer and finally to fall, old feelings began to grow between Jack and Ridley. It was almost comical in the way they tried to speak to each other about their feelings only to be left with a red hue for Jack and a crimson hue for Ridley. Believing their friendship to survive a hit like this, Jack and Ridley steeled their nerves and hoped to confess to each other by the end of the week...and tomorrow was Friday._

_Jack was practicing his lines in English: "Ridley, I have wanted to tell you this for a long time...I love you...no that wasn't it! That wasn't it at all!!" Jack said, even though it was the best line he got. He was interrupted by a woman looking pointedly at him and asked him to read the line where the other student, a young freshman named Flau left off._

"_Yes Ms. Hertz...ahem.." Jack pointed out a random line on his book and found a lengthy one and started to read it out loud...his gamble paid off as the teacher looked shocked at her student's attentiveness and freaking sheer luck and left him alone to ponder his confession to Ridley._

_They met up after school and inadvertently blushed at each other as they walked to Ridley's home as they did everyday. Jack was gearing up and Ridley kept looking his way and looking in another direction when she thought Jack was looking at her. As it came only too soon, the pair arrived at Ridley's..._

_Jack was angry at himself for not saying it and saw that Ridley was doing the same and thought 'What the hell?' and tapped Ridley on the shoulder_ _making her face him. Jack was hopeful as the blush intensified from a rosy blush to a full crimson red and that made him even more bolder as he bent down and kissed her._

_Ridley mentally gasped; the kiss was absolutely wonderful! It wasn't forced like the bastard Cross. It was tender, passionate...and a bit hesitant? Ridley just about stopped the hesitation as she wrapped her arms around Jack but not before putting his hands on her waist as she kissed back. The two eventually sat on the floor with Jack sitting on the dirt road not caring if his jeans are messed up and Ridley with her skirt getting stained with dust. The two kissed for a solid minute before having to release it to make sure it wasn't a dream...of course the lack of air influenced their decision as well..._

_The two stayed in Jack's lap with their arms between each other, not even daring to let go or open their eyes. Suddenly the two murmured to each other their small confessions to each other but only heard..._

"_I love You..."_

-End Flashback-

Leona was stunned at Jack's memory...it felt so real that she had actual tears fall from her eyes from the distant feeling that they both went through.

Suddenly all of the gates from the prison cells swung open and both were brought from their thoughts and stories to get out of the cells and try and lead the plane back to a safe place to their respective guilds for some comfort and plans of revenge against Radiata.

Jack and Leona wasted no time trying to get to the cockpit when they passed by Ganz' cell with him panicking over the cell being opened. Leona looked at Jack and thought he was screwed if he had an army captain act like this...

After Jack calmed down Ganz, the captain went into professional mode and went passed the now empty cells. It seemed each one of the prisoners found the parachute locker and used all of them to escape leaving the three to their deaths...

...yep...they were screwed...

Jack, Ganz and Leona were terrified by their fate but fear pumps adrenaline as they made their way toward the cockpit and found the pilot with several tranquilizers on his neck and chest. It seemed that they were sadistically forced in and one of them stood plunged into his heart. The autopilot device was completely destroyed and the plane was severely damaged at the steering handle with wires sticking out.

Fortune struck as the controls were still operational and needed one to pilot the plane.

Fortune failed to strike as the pilot is either dead or comatose from the overdose of tranquilizers...

Jack was at the seat in front of the controls as he tried to remember how to pilot the controls...the only memory he had was when playing at the old antique shops' flight simulator plane game and had to use those instructions to try and land this thing...

'Ok Jack! Remember your training...' Jack kept repeating these thoughts over and over as he tried to turn the plane safely toward the ground...and that is when it went to hell as the controls were extremely fragile and had stopped responding.

The plane started to fall to the ground in an alarming rate but by then it was only twenty feet into the ground as the plane started to collide with the ground.

"Everyone, hold on!!" Ganz said as he buckled a seat belt to himself. Leona had no place to go as she stood expecting to die in fear, she was grabbed by Jack and held on tight and covered as much as he could with his arms and slightly covering body as the plane crash landed on the ground...

General Dynas had received a phone call from the Radiata tower as one of their own planes; the one Jack was on, had crashed in the Tria desert...how the hell was he supposed to tell Ridley? She was already distraught over the blunder caused by Natalie and her father, now he was supposed to tell her that her lover is probably coyote food?!

...Dynas shook his head and answered that question...he began to shake a sleeping Ridley to tell her the bad news...it struck de-ja-vu as this was the same way he told Ganz of his father's fate...

**End Chapter**

**Well thank you for trying and getting those review in, no matter how few. I just look at the hits and it's good enough for me but please drop a review, it makes this writer feel better about his talents-even if it is about criticism, at least the person gave a damn, right?**

**Alright, I originally planned to make it longer but I felt that a more detailed history of Ridley and Jack's relationship in the Cross era was needed. It also made good storylines as well!**

**The next chapter will explore more of Jack's attempt to find a certain guild and try to bring along Ganz and Leona to safety...and more on Ridley's fragile mind being shattered by Dynas' revelation...**

**Til next time!**


	6. Insanity and Reunion

Chapter 6: Reunion

Ridley was only a couple of steps closer to completely lose it and she had a very good reason to. All because her father couldn't get over a superiority complex that he had against Jack and now he was almost 100 submissive to Cross! Frustrated, Ridley began to furiously dream about her father's shortcomings.

Ridley had to wonder if her father had planned this all along. 'Knowing him, he probably was.' Ridley scoffed but kept sleeping. However, Ridley had to rest her mind at least for a day before confronting her father about this horrid scheme. When that does however, she will exhaust herself by giving him the worst verbal flailing in Radiata's history!

'Please Jack, please be safe...if not...I'll find you and I'll kick you until your breathing again, then I'll kill you!' Ridley thought. At least her anger and annoyance toward her boyfriend was still intact, it should be though. She will need all of it when she brings home Jack and pummels her father with either Jack holding on or letting her go!

Her mind, was interrupted by a soft and firm voice...

'Oh? It's only General Stone...I'll...just go to...sleep.' Ridley thought, intent on falling asleep.

"Miss Silverlake? Miss, please wake up." Dynas was saying as he gently shook an emotionally exhausted Ridley awake. The girl moaned and opened her green eyes to see a gaunt faced Dynas as he was experiencing a memory of something...

When she saw the face, Ridley's mind was panicking. It wasn't good news; it was just another wave of terrible tragedies that fate seemed to lay upon her, one after the other. She wasn't sure if her mind and heart were able take much more...

"I...I have some terrible news, Miss." The General started but paused. It seemed as if his memory have just gotten more real, so to speak.

"Yes?" The girl asked, fearfully. If it was about Jack...the General seemed to hear her thoughts as he started once again.

"Miss Silverlake, there is no easy way to say this, so I will start from the very beginning." The general sighed and started to tell his tale of how he found Jack, recruited him to save him from the harsh treatment of the army's prisoners, and how he became a decent soldier under Ganz' command.

After 15 minutes into his story, he paused. Dynas had to another young woman about her lover's demise. He had to tell Ridley, someone he considered a niece about the hardest part, Jack's demise.

"...Several hours ago, Jack Russell and Ganz Rothschild boarded a plane that they thought was heading for the Nowem Campaign against a known terrorist group operating in the area. The plane was in fact heading toward the Tria desert where a group of prisoners were to be trained and for the lack of a better term, _brainwashed,_ for fighting in the army's beliefs. I only received word that the plane holding these prisoners was ambushed by someone, and freed the prisoners. An hour later, I received a call from a control tower communicator at the air control tower at Radiata's airport was able to pick up voices from an open channel on board that very plane." Dynas paused once more, seeing the fear in Ridley's eyes...

'_My god, it seems exactly like Ganz' eyes when I told him and his mother all those years ago...'_ he thought sadly. Although the events were different, the fear was the same...

"It was believed that Ganz, Jack and an unknown young lady was trying to land the plane instead of letting it crash to the ground. Whether it was believed to be an act of heroism to try and save the prisoners or to save their own lives, I do not know. It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that-" Dynas was interrupted by a shout of "NO!" from Ridley as she guessed what happened.

"No! Not him...please for the love of god, NO!" Ridley shrieked as her heart, mind and the remaining bit of her self-preservation shattered. Dynas looked on as she started to tear up once more and he could do nothing...after all, he was used to it by now.

"I am sorry Miss Silverlake, but there is nothing we can do. I must tell you to move on and good luck." The General said with a formal, but regretful tone and left the office to leave Ridley alone.

It was about the last time he saw a young brokenhearted girl and now unknowingly left alone a mentally strained Ridley...

Ridley was withdrawn, she had lost everything that held an amount of importance in such a small amount of time...and it was all because of a jealous old man that was her father! Ridley, angry at her father and that damned Cross for ruining what peace that she held started to exit the office but not before searching the desk of the General's. Her mind wasn't really aware as she effortlessly entered the Radiata army compound unnoticed all the way into the dubbed "Ammo Bunker".

Ridley had pure adrenaline and a bit of insanity going on in her mind as she silently used a latent spy skill within her and entered the weapon bunker. Ridley took out a single key-pass from her pocket and entered a key code written under Dynas' desk and used it to enter. Ridley (who was entering into what she called 'Commando mode') was unfazed at the large amount of weapons and silently picked out a large rifle. She expertly loaded the weapon with the clips hanging next to the weapon and calmly walked out but not unnoticed as a random mail clerk spotted Ridley and dashed toward the nearest security guard.

Ridley hardly noticed the alarm was sounding now as she broke into a run across the base, ignoring the startled looks of the nearby soldiers. Amidst shouts of orders being given of stopping a crazed looking girl, she wasn't even stopped at this and dodged several attempts at soldiers diving for her. She hardly cared as she entered a massive laboratory with the classic "Keep out. Authorized personnel only!" Ridley ignored the sign and kept running down the hall and looked back to see several soldiers following her. Enraged and scared, she kept running down the hall and found a scientist opening a large metal door and entered with Ridley rushing behind. She sighed in relief as the guards started pounding on the door.

Knocking the scientist out, Ridley grabbed an I.D. Card from the scientist as Ridley calmly now walked toward another set of doors. She merely glanced at the card's name; Morfinn, and inserted the card into a small slot. A whirr was scanning the card and opened the door a minute later. Ridley entered to find a palace-sized room with several tanks being hung off in heavy chains. It surprised Ridley to find the tanks had no chassis for the treads.

'Must be under construction.' Ridley thought as she passed by and entered a room that had only one person inside.

"Must hack into the base and redirect development into the school's database...I-augh!" The scientist, or what was a scientist fell to the ground, unconscious as Ridley knocked him out with the butt of the rifle. She noticed that the scientist wasn't really one at all; he had a symbol belonging to a guild, but she wasn't sure which one he belonged to.

Ridley started to lose some of the adrenaline as she viewed her surroundings: It was obviously a control room and judging the man in front of him, it was clear that he was a spy. She quickly removed a keycard around his neck and briefly read the name 'Genius' as she entered the card. The man's hacking skills paid off as it did everything for her as she read the plans for the army's Hover Tank research.

Ridley, feeling nothing left to lose except for the pride of the Silverlake name (if there was any left), quickly searched the man's pockets to find a small disk inside labeled 'Plans' to download the research of the tank. She briefly wondered why she was downloading it, but wasn't really interested why. When she finished downloading the plans, she looked out the glass window to find several soldiers entering the large room outside of the lab's door led by an unknown commander. Thankfully, the windows were tinted and the soldiers didn't notice her.

"Hm...maybe I can use one of those tanks to escape. At least if I die, I can join Jack..." Ridley said sadly as a tear slid down at the thought of her dead boyfriend...though she felt an odd inkling that Jack was alive. She would have to escape and see...and besides, the plans could be sold to one of the guilds and allow a small fortune for her and Jack if she lived to find him.

A button started to flash on the control panel and Ridley pushed it to see what would happen. A panel on the floor appeared to glow next to the unconscious man and beneath Ridley as the panel grew brightly around them and flashed only her out of the room. A moment later, Ridley had appeared in a small room somewhere. Ridley sat at the seat meant for the driver and saw out through the scope in front of her. She gasped with excitement and fear as Ridley realized she was in one of the many tanks above the room where she was a moment ago!

She saw with great relief that the group of soldiers had entered the room where she downloaded the codes for the tank. she silently cheered as the soldiers only noticed that the man was there and quickly exited out of the lab, dragging the spy and probably to find their commander about what to do about the man.

Ridley was trying to figure out the controls when the tank powered up by itself. Ridley saw that the chains were letting her down as the tank's internal computer booted up and offered a registration panel. Ridley quickly typed her name and chose a password. After that, she hit the Enter key on the keyboard. The tank hummed for a moment and started to run diagnostics internally on the tank.

Ridley almost looked bored as the tank ran test after test and a short blip later, the summary was shown in front. At that moment, the chains finished lowering the tank. Ridley was half expecting to make a large sound as the tank was supposed to do but found that the tank was floating!

"So this must be the Hover Tank...how does it work?" Ridley murmured as she quickly entered a search for manuals on this type of tank. The computer searched for exactly thirty seconds and came up with a short manual.

Ridley learned that the tank was controlled by this very computer. It was lucky that she put in her name as the computer now responded to Ridley's name. The computer also described that putting in simple commands allowed the driver; in this case, Ridley, to automatically perform basic and complex actions to simply turning the turret up to using the main cannon.

Ridley further read the manual and found that she had to manually press the red, round button next to the Enter key to fire and was pleased to learn that the tank had an auto lock-on system.

"Alright...Fire!" Ridley said out loud as she pressed the button...a large beam charged up and fired from the main turret. That alone slightly shook Ridley inside. Such power was almost surreal as the beam tore a large hole in the wall as the tank offered a destination window.

"Well, I'm a fugitive now so I guess I'll try and find Jack...Tria Desert!" Ridley typed the destination as the tank responded by automatically moving.

The scene out side was chaotic as the beam that came out of nowhere completely destroyed the Ammo Bunker and kept going on towards the Soldier's Barracks! The Ammo Bunker was periodically making small explosions here and there. The damage was devastating as several soldier's quarters that housed many recruits were leveled as the beam kept going through! The recruits and soldiers alike were escaping the buildings as they crumbled into piles of metal and steel.

Ridley felt no remorse for the soldiers; after all the army took away her future with Jack so they deserved this destruction...at least the calculating part of her mind reasoned. Her heart was saying to feel pity, but this time Ridley was only listening to her brain...and somewhat loving every second of it.

The tank was practically fighting for her as the computer's online weapon defense system was overriding any safety systems placed by the researchers. The tank almost responded to Ridley's thirst for destruction and was destroying various Guard Towers with the tank's secondary shell turret. Soon Ridley and her tank was coming through the Western gate of Radiata leading to the Tria Desert.

The shells were absolutely creating havoc as the tank stopped in front of the sealed steel gate itself at the Western entrance to the Tria Desert. Ridley found that a large portion of the army was stationed there and several soldiers were firing at the tank. Immediately, the tank raised a clear, almost flowing energy shield and the bullets and grenades were only represented by the flashes of blue.

It wasn't that it was immortal, far from it. Ridley found that the Shield was run on a timer and it would soon deplete itself to recharge the shield.

Ridley pushed the Fire button again as another beam was shot toward the enemy tanks. The tread based tanks flashed before exploding and taking the lives inside the tank. The explosion also created a unstable hole as the wall around the base crumbled and made the gate that they were supporting fall to the floor leaving Ridley a clear way out of the city and into the desert.

Ridley only felt a small tear trickle down as she passed the burning tanks and fallen soldiers to the desert and into the last location of Jack.

"RIDLEY, WE HAVE ARRIVED AT TRIA DESERT, PLEASE ENTER LOCATION" The screen flashed with a search bar under the message appeared in front of Ridley. She pondered a moment and typed a general search topic.

"Find the prisoner's airplane." The computer hummed for a moment and came up empty except for a faint blip and a message of a plane's black box has transmitted a signal and was questioning whether or not to go to it.

Ridley was hopeful, the plane could mean that Jack was on board but was fearing that Jack may have not survived...regardless of the outcome, Ridley agreed to the question and the tank was auto piloting itself toward the last known location of the box.

'_Soon Jack, Soon..._' Ridley thought as she out the tank into auto-pilot and drifted to sleep. She hoped that it would drown the anger and slight bloodlust and wake up either refreshed. One thing was certain though, the entire world would be hunting her now; she just had to get Jack before they get her...

At the site of the crash, Jack brought himself into consciousness and was holding an unconscious Leona in his arms as he was coming to grips about what happened. He looked around and found that the captain had a large bump that was bleeding slightly on his head and Jack noticed, with slight horror, that the Captain's foot was twisted...the other way.

"Aw, man...well I wonder if I have any injuries...AH! Yeah I do..." Jack groaned as he tried to move his left arm. He found out painfully that it was broken in the elbow joint of the arm making the use of his lower left arm near impossible right now.

After making sure that Ganz wasn't dead, Jack quietly examined Leona. Pleased that she only had a few minor injuries (meaning that his arm was busted by his shielding and vice grip), he started to wake Leona up. Leona looked slightly awake and took her surroundings and blushed furiously at their awkward position. Without really thinking, Leona kissed Jack on the side and blushed even redder...

Jack was a bit red and then asked shakily that he was going to let her go. Leona, still red, had nodded and Jack used his remaining good arm. He lifted what he could and shifted Leona tenderly as to not accidentally drop her. Leona got over her embarrassment, help Jack by jumping out of his body after Jack's careful handling of his broken arm.

A few hours later, Jack and Leona had patched up Ganz by slowly moving his foot into a correct position. The captain was shocked out of unconsciousness by the pain and found his surroundings to be a large desert and not a forest as he thought.

Jack explained that the plane was heading toward a prisoner's camp toward the Tria Desert and they were to be subjected to be the prisoner's newest "recruits". Ganz, of course looked frightened as he recalled seeing a training film from his captain-training days scaring him straight.

Meanwhile General Stone was positively raging about two things. One about how corrupted and lazy his army has been behaving and two how his bad day got worse as the senate ("Lousy good for nothing old dodders!!") was looking for ways to discharge him from the position of Radiata's General.

He wasn't surprised to see that Jasne Colton was leading the charge to get him to resign. If that was to happen, then he would for the time being have control over the army until another was commissioned. It was no secret that Jasne had tried to buy his loyalty through expensive dinners and large contributions. However, there wasn't anything he could do about it legally with jeopardizing Jasne's only daughter, Ridley as well.

Ridley was unofficially Dynas' niece, even if no blood ties them. Ridley often writes to him telling him about his father's inferiority complex with Jack Russell and only recently acquired a letter stating his plan to dump the Russell boy into the prisoner's pit. Dynas had rescued Jack under the guise of personal training but it was really for his niece.

Dynas did not blame one bit on Ridley over the escape and potential theft of the army's secret research. They were able to find a spy in their ranks and immediately shipped him to the Nowem prison camp just north of the forest. The camp there was heavily fortified even more so than that of the Tria Desert and only second of fortifications, Radiata being the first.

The tank was probably their greatest technological achievement and downfall as Ridley escaped with prototype-001 of the Hover Tanks. It was the first one completed and the others were to get equipped with the same modifications of the first tank but had their plans stolen, probably by the spy. He feared that the plans were already being decoded by the Blue Vareth's team of insane researchers...

"sigh...maybe I should just retire. The army is too corrupt to run now..." Dynas said quietly but he knew he couldn't unless damning Radiata to Jasne's ambitions...and he would rather die than do that!

It had been four hours since Jack had found what remaining rations that was left from the burning wreckage of the airplane. It wasn't even much, as much of the small rations were covered in oil and was deemed poisoned. Jack was able to try and give as much to Leona and had to split as much as he could. Fortunately, night had fallen and the fires had kept them warm for the time being.

As Jack laid on the warm sand, he began to think of Ridley and his former life. It was so simple before all of this crap happened. If he could have controlled himself for a few more months, then he and Ridley could've graduated and went off to college or something...well at least Ridley would have and he could have gone to a trade college to feel useful.

'You know, I wonder if we would have gone all the way, Ridley and I...' Jack started to fantasize about a future with Ridley, no matter what happened. If they were together in the future, then they may have gotten married! Jack wasn't sure if they would have any future though, with him having a large bounty on his head care of Jasne Colton.

Looking at the moon, Jack looked at his temporary sling and was relieved when Leona had a bit of medical training in Blue Vareth's school curriculum and was able to find out that Jack hadn't a busted arm, just a sprained one and would be fine in a couple of weeks.

He looked at his companions; Ganz with a bandaged head and a small make shift cast with some of the body armor he wore and Leona sleeping peacefully with her arm over her large tome. Jack was about to drift when he heard a faint hum...

Jack was hoping that anyone would avoid this place for at least a couple of days, but that wasn't the case! Picking up a steel pipe and held it as threateningly as he could, he nearly dropped it when his pipe was up against a massive tank!!

"I-I don't know who you belong to, but I won't let you harm them!" Jack said with a small stutter and tried to swing at the tank. He tried to attack, but was thrown back as the pipe connected with the tank's bright blue transparent shield. The pipe was ripped from his hand and into the distance, but the force and partly the swing unbalanced Jack. He fell to the floor with a thud and landed on his good arm fortunately.

Jack knew he was beat, he couldn't use his gun, the pipe was pretty much thrown back and into the desert somewhere and a tank was only waiting for the order to be blast the annoying target in front of it...Jack gave up, forgetting he wasn't alone he dropped to his knees and just said...

"Dammit! I'm sorry Ridley...I guess I totally screwed up..." Jack then stood up and looked defiantly at the tank and kept repeating his apologies to Ridley in his head. Suddenly the tank's hatch opened.

"Jack? Is that you?" A voice from heaven broke from the tank! Jack looked up in surprise and thought he saw a mirage...at night...oh hell with mirages! It was Ridley!

"Ridley! This..this isn't some dream...right?" Ridley just shook her head and climbed out of the surprisingly floating tank. She approached him and just landed a passionate kiss to quell any doubts that they had. Ridley too was having doubts but that destroyed it!

Their kiss kept getting more and more heavy as they kissed with a huge desperation that they didn't know they had. So much, in fact that it was much as their first kiss: needing and passionate as they each plopped on top of each other and laid on top of each other, never breaking.

They would have gone further but were interrupted by a gasp. The pair broke apart and saw Leona with a shocked look. Ridley was certain that this was the young woman the General mentioned and asked.

"Jack, who is this?" Ridley asked at the same time Leona did. Jack wasn't sure, but suddenly he felt nervous...

"Ridley, this is my friend, Leona Weissheit. Leona, this is Ridley Silverlake, my girlfriend." The two girls eyed each other and narrowed their eyes...Jack did not like the look that they were giving each other but kept silent.

What did he get himself into?

**Well...this was a lame cliffhanger. Either way, the next chapter has more involvement with Adele and her pondering questions about Jack. Also, they finally arrived! Jack and company has their first skirmish...**

**Well, keep looking for the next update! Laters!**

**T.A.**


	7. Orangeaid

_Chapter Seven: New Flavor! Orange-aid!_

'_It all went to hell, didn't it? Huh...it seems so surreal. To think it was all just a plan to separate Ridley and me...' _

Jack wondered silently as he watched the sun rise over the desert horizon. It all began as a simple forced separation between Jack Russell and Ridley Silverlake via Jasne Colton and to some extent, Cross Ward. However, Jack betted that the old man wasn't expecting his daughter to rebel. Speaking of which, Jack looked at the sleeping form of Ridley in his arm; his good one by the way, and stared into her face. He recollected as to how it all went so awry.

It has been nearly a month since Ridley's father Jasne Colton conspired with prison moron Cross Ward to frame Jack with a planned out plot to rid him onto the army. It was also two days since Ridley stole a top secret tank from under the army's noses and went crazy with it, nearly destroying the base's compound. Now they were on the run with a stolen tank from the army and probably from the Blue Vareth, since Leona was with them.

Leona Weissheit was originally from the Northern areas of Nowem where Blue Vareth stations its school and behind it, their main base. The students attending think that it is only a private school but in reality it was designed as an information facility, making some of their terrifying weapons come from simple ideas or innovations.

Looking back at the creeping feeling of unease situated within his memories, Jack felt like if the army was a personal hell meant for him and only him. All of his fears about the stories that former soldiers and escaping guild members were true. It was truly sickening to see the hollowed eyes of some of the army soldiers...just marching their bodies, with no life in them.

"Perfect killing machines...one dies and two more replace that one..." Jack said bitterly with a twinge of horror and fear as his wandering thoughts turned grim. He was about to enter the _Army_ and fall into their cryptic folds until one inside the _Army_ saved him.

General Dynas was somewhat of another era of the _Army_. Back when the armed forces were proud to take the name "Radiata Knights" without the citizenry going into a full blown panic. Back then, no one tried to save each other or tried to either hide themselves or their children from being drafted into their ranks. No, these brave men and women are now few and between, each dying from their wounds that were created, emotionally or physically later.

A prime example was Captain Zeranium, who died while trying to drink his nightmares away and ended up as a OD in the morgue. He just took too many vodka shots and well..there he was with a toe tag.

General Dynas knew Ganz Rothschild's father, Captain Gawain. According to the old stories from the local Gazette, he was a man of great valor and upstanding bravery. His company was rumored to never have lost a single infantryman in the field of battle. He never lost a man to the battlefield, instead dragging the man or woman into the medical tents himself.

If for whatever reason (he said in a public speech to his company) the time was up for one of his, he and his company would stand by from action during the next day. refusing to do battle as a grim ode to the fallen. It caused much controversy for the senate and some of the army, but he meant it and it paid off. Making him rivals with his just as equally respectable friend, Cairn Russell.

It was a sorrowful day when both were declared Missing In Action by the presidency when the Gold Olacion fired their "Enjela" weapon into the southern savanna plains where one of their "Temples" was discovered to be a front for a weapons research lab. The blast eradicated the local wildlife, effectively putting the smilodon into the endangered species list. It also put the rare "Iron Plate", a surprisingly fast turtle into extinct list of animals. The former evangelic order sent a heartfelt apology to wildlife conservancy of Radiata City, but practically dismissed the lives of the soldiers killed in that blast.

This would normally make a normal person turn against the guilds but it made Jack Russell support the guilds of Orange Vancoor and the Green Void even more. Each one was enemies against the other guilds respectively though but only a few, very few instances where there was any actual conflict between the eastern guild and the western guild. Orange for their old style heroics and the Green...well lets face it, their tactics are awesome!

Jack always supported the Orange Vancoor because they were able to retrieve a war medal from the site of the cataclysmic explosion and gave it to Jack's mother. The medal was scorched black but the faint glimmer of gold engraved Cairn Russell's name onto the medal.

Jack vividly remembered that moment; His sister, Adele, was crying and made the occasional sob while holding her mother in a hug while she herself was gripping the medal very hard. Jack was only looking in awe as the leader of the guild, a woman named Elwen gave the medal to the family before promptly leaving. Her two generals, men named Caesar and Gerald, both nodded at the family and followed their leader out onto a couple of Hummers and even pulled off the riding into sunset stunt

Remembering even more so, Jack wasn't sure where he would be. Jack was always a small time trouble seeker. Of course, when his mother died...he just straightened up.

'_So many people who helped us...who knows what would we would have become without them...' _Jack kept thinking as the sun was now a half-circle over the horizon. Jack owed his life to the people who helped him before. When he lost all hope of any memory of his father, the guild came in with one of family's prized possessions. When he lost any hope in making a friend, Ridley was there. Finally, just as he was condemned to the _teachings _of the army, the General had rescued him. He enlisted as a show of thanks and even then the gruff looking general looked out for him and placed him in the service of his new friend, Ganz Rothschild.

To think a couple of blokes coming from such rival and yet friendly groups of people were able to produce such fine gentlemen in their sons? Jack laughed mentally as other thoughts came to him. For one thing, he was on the run with Ridley Silverlake. She was his girlfriend turned fugitive and probably had a bounty on her head for stealing precious government research data.

All for him apparently as she told him yesterday evening when they finally reunited. Ridley's mind couldn't take anymore pain of losses and even the feared that Jack was dead. Jack assured Ridley that if he died, then it would be him protecting her, not any other way. This had major benefits as Ridley began to kiss him passionately in front of the other two occupants with them.

Jack noticed that Leona, a young lady who was only a year behind Jack and Ridley, was looking with a pained look and was always glaring at Ridley whenever she interrupted any discussion that they had. Ridley wasn't oblivious to them; she just glared right back. Jack had to wonder the obvious, could it be that Leona was having romantic feelings for him?!...

Sigh well let's get back on track, shall we?

The sun was now a full circle meaning that it was probably Eight in the morning, perfect for moving on. An idea suddenly struck him, maybe the Vancoor...

"Hm...maybe I can contact the Orange Vancoor from here? I'll have to talk to the others." Jack murmured to himself as he watched his girlfriend use his body as a pillow. She looked like if she hadn't been home for a while and yet, she was still beautiful. Striking even than when she was tired! Jack could've spent all morning this way if not for a small cough behind him. Jack turned and saw Leona staring at him with a look like if she wanted to talk to him.

Jack slowly set Ridley down and using his army uniform's jacket as a makeshift pillow for her, he followed Leona a bit away from her sleeping form. After a while of just wandering the campsite, Leona spoke with a hint of fear.

"Jack..." the young man turned to a fearful Leona. Leona was looking lost and afraid, feeling the insecurities of a six or seven year old and not feeling her full fifteen years. Receiving a nod of encouragement from Jack, Leona smiled slightly but it faded when she continued.

"Jack...what am I going to do? The guild is now looking for me, probably to silence me! I failed into leading the guild members into safety and since I failed, the law for it is death!" Leona's tears were falling freely. Jack, being the one who can't stand to see girls cry, wrapped his right arm as an act of comfort. Leona calmed down, a bit from what she had started with and continued.

"We have only two rules at the Vareth: If you are detected, you fail. If you fail, you die!" At this, Leona started to panic. "I-I've just about annihilated those rules and now they will be after me. I...I only got by because my brother was a terrific spy for them; otherwise, I would be eight feet into the ground of gods know where!" Jack was confused, eight feet? Wasn't it...

Leona caught the upcoming question. "They dig an extra two feet just to spite you, makes the family think they dug an empty grave. I knew it was a mistake, joining with them. But I couldn't just let my brother disappear from my life, even if Mother and Father agreed to his reasons." Leona said as Jack stood silently, arm around Leona's shoulder.

Jack had one of his great brainstorming ideas! Only this time, it was only a suggestion: Switch sides! Jack called Leona softly and as he got her full attention, he spoke.

"Well, how about this? Instead of going back or trying to reason with them, try and get solace from them by joining up with the Orange Vancoor?" Leona took this in, she would be branded a traitor... but it was a better idea than hers. She thought she could steal the tank and try and regain their trust, but that would mean leaving Jack. She certainly didn't want to do THAT...

"I-I don't know...I mean, if it means trying to get their secrets out of me, then that won't work. I'm just a student at the institute. It was usually my job to scout, but as you know, I was captured." Jack nodded and that made Leona happy for some odd reason. It was like he was encouraging her to speak her mind, something that was usually frowned upon at the school.

Leona's school, the Vareth School for Gifted Minds was really a front for some intelligence gathering from the young minds there. The innocent ideas of imaginative little children became horrid nightmares for the rest of the world as the "Teachers" there report back and begin development on their more "creative" ideas.

All ideas considered came from most of the young males, while most of the females (I.E. Leona) were usually ignored except for a few. Back when Leona was around fourteen, she began questioning the way things were run. A few days later, she was mysteriously assaulted by a group of lifelike "Human" figurines. The molds had human sized bodies, but their faces were made of crude steel. Leona was fortunate to escape the mob and had quieted down, adopting a scared child look.

Later she would find that these figures were the result of someone making an idea out of the child product "Clay-Play". The one who created them was one of her professors: An insane minded, but timid looking woman named Ursula. Her facial features made it look like a harmless woman, but her mind is so paranoid that she began creating humanoid machinery that only one person could be inside to operate.

Shaking the delusions of a coward seeking redemption from their "master" she made up her now liberated mind. No more! No more...and she was glad.

'That does it! I'll do it!' Leona thought happily. She felt relieved that she would cast her past behind her and follow Jack. If it was all going to plan, then she would join up with Orange Vancoor and put her mind to work! Besides, their leader was a _woman_! That was a big plus in her book...the metaphoric one, not her real book.

Now noon, Jack and company loaded everyone onto the tank. It was surprising to find a separate room for at least two people behind the drivers' seat, something that Leona concluded for someone to catch some sleep in comfort than falling asleep at the wheel...keyboard. Seeing how magnificent and technology advanced it was, it was clear for anyone would have wanted at least once drive the dubbed "Ridley's tank". But since the tank responded only to Ridley, she remained driver. It deflated Jack and Ganz, though Leona was content to read out of her large book.

Curious about the book, Jack sat next to Leona and peered over her shoulder. Leona had a look of pure concentration and ignored the faint presence around her. Jack kept reading and caught a few glimpses of the large book. It was...a romance book!?

Jack heard Leona giggling as he focused back from his thought to see a wide smile cross Leona's face at his reaction. Seeing more of his dumbfounded look, Leona started to laugh even harder.

"Oh, Jack...what do you think of the romance between an ancient king and his wife?" Leona asked smiling. Jack only cleared his throat and spoke in his most mature voice...which made him sound old...

"Well...I think that you should be reading...something else?" Jack finished, albeit lamely. Leona softly laughed once more before returning to her romance novel...or was a text? Jack didn't want to know...

Returning to Ridley, who was lazily moving the camera view in front of tank with the left and right arrow keys, snuck around her and kissed her tenderly. Jack enjoyed the kiss, seeing that he almost lost her forever and Ridley continued the kiss, both growing more passionate with each lingering moment. When they finished, Jack looked at the screen and started to concentrate on the outside when he heard a small blip sound from the radar. It was only one, but then more and more red blips started to appear. Ridley began moving the camera sharply and both were shocked that several soldiers were marching with a bunch of space age guns pointed at them.

Soon after a large, mechanical war-mech dripping what was some kind of slime appeared; more disturbing was that someone was inside! The woman was glaring and had a triumphant smirk at the same time. Leona gasped loudly enough for all occupants to turn to her, who had paled considerably.

"T-that's Ursula! She probably found about the failure, and has come to finish the assassination!" Leona started to panic as Jack glared at the insane woman and nearly shouted at Ridley to engage the soldiers. Ridley, impressed at Jack's nature(he was always a gentlemen...but that was before...) Began typing command after command for all weapons to attack any soldier in range. The tank was all happy to oblige, and started blasting away...

Meanwhile, a group of people were setting up a lookout point when Ursula and her soldiers arrived to assault a military tank. They thought nothing of it until they picked up faint radio signals from Ursula's open channel.

"...Target locked!...all...soldiers...Fire! On Lord Colton's orders...complete it!"Puzzled at this faint command, the group sent a transmission to HQ and only watched as they hoped to receive the order to aid the tank. Even if it was a group of would-be soldiers, the Vancoor didn't want the _Army _and the Blue Vareth on them, now would they?

One of the group, a man with an eye-patch readied his twin Uzi sub-machine guns with a fresh magazine in each while speaking.

"Carlos, any word?" The man known as Carlos shook his head. Carlos wasn't meant for combat, as his light body armor was fairly new and his sweating contradicted the cool and collected (not to mention sweatless) face of the eye-patched man. Carlos looked like he belonged in a cool laboratory or a desk job.

"Negative, Sergeant Gerald. Command has only recently received the message..." Carlos muttered only enough for Gerald to hear. Gerald only nodded and readied a crate full of ammunition with a large stationary gun pointed at both the tank and the advancing soldiers. Sudden as the answer of a negative, a small ring startled Gerald as Carlos was receiving a judgement on their situation. Carlos smiled and nodded at Gerald, who in turn started to grin and readied the stationary weapon.

"So, who do I fire at?" Gerald asked the scientist. Carlos just shook his head at the excitement of the old codger that was his superior. Even if the deputy commander of Orange Vancoor was around fifty-seven years of age, he had the energy of a fifteen year old, trigger happy recruit.

"Commander Elwen says to open fire on the Blue dogs and to help ice the slimy bitch." Gerald nodded gleefully and pointed to the soldiers away from the tank, ready to cause havoc!

Back at the interior of the tank, Ridley was furiously typing and watching as the tank kept lobbying shell after shell to the slime covered mech in front of the of the tank and was getting frustrated when the tank's internal scanners failed to detect a weak point in all of that slime! The tank's secondary machine guns were keeping the advancing soldiers at bay with ease as they picked the group off with at least three kills per each gun reload. Though they were dropping fast, the soldiers merely stood up and began swaggering toward the tank once more as if they weren't scratched.

Jack felt utterly useless as Ridley was all but fighting this skirmish by herself as he sat on a hard steel seat next to a control panel. He looked at the faint red blips on the screen in front of him and was startled to see some blueprints on one of the soldiers on screen! Jack studied the blue-prints briefly and discovered that the black steel heads on the soldiers were actually smaller mechanical antennas linked to the that of the bigger war mech that crazy lady was driving. With a whoop of victory, he hollered at Ridley who was getting desperate from being surrounded with the zombie-moving soldiers around her precious tank.

"Ridley! Aim the main cannon at the big one! All of the smaller ones are connected to that Ursula chick!" Ridley turned and nodded as she entered another command. Meanwhile, Ganz was trying to see if he could do anything instead of panicking and Leona was only praying that they would get out of this alive...

Gerald and Carlos were frowning as the guns on the tank stopped firing and were being redirected at Ursula's war-mech. Suddenly a message came from the Headquarter via small radio telling them of the soldier's weakness, and immediately changed targets. Carlos helped feed the gun another belt of ammo and Gerald fired away...

"Give up yet, you little traitor!? I will enjoy watching my men rip your little body apart, Leona!" Ursula cackled as she geared up her mech to grab the tank but was surprised to see that her mech's left arm was blown off! Ursula glared at the direction of the gunfire and was enraged to see them...

"Yah! Those Vancoor scum came to their aid!? All troops, attack the vancoor scum over the hill!" Ursula practically screamed at the lifeless soldiers as they abandoned their primary target and instead began to stagger toward Gerald and Carlos.

"They're...retreating?" Ganz asked as the rocking of gunfire against the tank ceased. He was answered as Ursula's remaining arm thundered against the blue shield. Guess not...

"I don't need my soldiers to turn your tank into a tin can! I'll have that pleasure all to myself, thank you!" Ursula guffawed as she brought another swing toward the tank's shield, which was currently flashing red.

"Oh no! The shield is about to give way from all of the force from the mech!" Ridley said as she furiously typed command after command. A couple of thundering smashes later, Jack was relieved as the auto lock on system found a weak spot in the mech's slime. The lock on kept it's cross hairs between the joint of the right arm and Ridley just about pounded the fire button.

Gerald and Carlos were awed as a small rumbling shook the balance out of them and some soldiers. The falling soldiers bumped into other soldiers and brought about half of the struggling dolls down with them back to the base of the hill but neither Gerald nor Carlos took their eyes off the crackling mech. The robot had the lower half of its arm blown off and the slime was being burned off from exposure to the tank's shield. Ursula screamed as if the pain was being directed to her, which it may be possible.

"No! The agony...my precious mech, useless! I won't go back without completing my task, so if I die, your souls will come with me!" Ursula pulled the control stick forward as the mech lunged toward the tank, intent on kamikazeing the tank.

It never happened though, a single bullet penetrated the slime and embedded itself into the back of the mech's seat; first going through the head of Ursula...the uncontrolled mech was blown to pieces from a second blast of the tank's cannon.

Without a central computer, the mechanical soldiers slumped to the ground, unmoving and lifeless as before...just as their materials that built them were supposed to act.

With a loud cheer, Jack and company practically danced with one another while Ridley was shaking her hands in an attempt to relax them from their strenuous job earlier. The battle seemed to take days, but in reality only took a couple of hours.

A faint beep brought Ridley's attention to the tank's screen as it informed her of their low ammunition shortages and a message of resupply. Ridley was helpless, as the only place would be Radiata's compound, but the tank blew that to itty-bitty pieces...

Suddenly, Ganz' voice shouted as he announced a message coming from somewhere near them. Leona told Ridley to being it up to the main screen and watched the incoming message appear.

"...this is First-Class Sergeant Gerald "Iron" Slasher of the Orange Vancoor. We are here to take captive of your tank by force if need be. Half of our organization already has mobilized and are closing on your position...give up quietly." The message ended. Ridley then posted her own message and spoke clearly when the tank's recording told her to.

"My name is Ridley Silverlake and my companions are Jack Russell, Ganz Rothschild and Leona Weissheit of the army and Blue Vareth for Leona. The one called Ursula was on a mission to destroy us and Leona here for being a traitor and we were caught in their skirmish. We need help to conquer the army sans one General Dynas in order to bring stability to my bull father, Jasne Colton." Ridley finished her message and sent it back on the last known channel, which was where the first message came from.

Gerald and Carlos listened intently to the message and relayed a copy to their headquarters and was surprised to have orders of escort to their main base. Though it wasn't exactly a hidden compound, the Orange Vancoor brought an abandoned military base to operational status when they first arrived to the Tria Region. Since then, most of their Western territories pledge full support to their cause, even if most of their support came from the farm towns.

Given orders, Gerald sent a message of escort to the tank and started loading the stationary weapon and ammunition into their APC vehicle. Their vehicle was built solely for them by their researchers for transport and combat. After all, the weren't called the best in Vehicles and infantry for nothing as they had more vehicular weapons of destruction than that of other guilds.

The guilds were primarily focused in one area of specialties, and Orange Vancoor had great pride in their vehicles just as the Blue Vareth prided themselves on their...weapons. Green Void, their neutral ally had their assassinations in top form where as Gold Olacion had their orbital weapon, Enjela.

Finishing up their equipment loads, Gerald transmitted a final confirmation message to Headquarters and motioned their vehicle to the tank and drove off. He was pleased to see the tank follow them, though a bit reluctant.

"It looks like we have no choice, we have to follow their commands." Ridley said resignedly. She told the others of their tank's status and each agreed to give in, each doubtful of the tank's ability to fight fifty or more of the Vancoor's vehicles. Jack was enthusiastic about his vote, since he was about to meet his hero guild. Leona was afraid of what they might do and Ganz just sat there, pondering.

Nearly an hour later, Jack and Ridley exited their tank and found themselves outside of a...saloon? The pair halted in front of a rustic wooden building with a sign that was hanging from a single bolt. The other two, their escorts had stopped in front of them and exited their vehicle as well to meet with the two.

"Welcome...to Orange Vancoor. I need you to come with me so that our boss can meet with you." Gerald spoke in a polite but gruff manner. Jack and Ridley nodded as they entered the building, leaving Ganz and Leona behind inside the tank.

Leona looked sour as Ridley just about clung to Jack as they exited the tank. That...hussy! Leona thought furiously but after a bit shook her head sadly, she wasn't supposed to feel this way! Jack was Ridley's in the first place, but she felt a glimmer of hope that maybe she would end with her instead...regardless, she didn't like Ridley right now and that was that.

Ganz was thinking of how someone tried to murder them and that was someone from the higher ups. The senate had already a bothersome grip on some of the military's commanding officers except for General Dynas. Since he was probably declared dead by the public and was now believed as a fugitive by Radiata's more secretive police force, he had no choice but to make his new life here. As long as he had his friends, then he would be fine...not caring about his status in Radiata.

Though that may put a cramp in his financial records...does the Orange Vancoor have a dental plan?

Back in Solieu Town, Adele Russell was worried that her brother was missing for about four weeks now. It wasn't uncommon for Jack to disappear but the last time he stood out this long was when they received word of their father's disappearance. He came home eventually, but was changed from his happy demeanor to his outcast attitude that he beared that changed only briefly since he met that Ridley girl.

Adele sighed, it wasn't easy raising her sixteen year old brother. At first she feared for his safety when the Senate passed a law that made all criminals be sent to the military but was relieved at her little brother's aloof nature. She firmly disregarded all stories of oppression at first but started to believe in them when some of their family's closest friends started to disappear only to find them completely broken when they returned. She only hoped that it hasn't happened to Jack...

All she could do now is wait, until her brother comes home...or at least finds him on Radiata's most wanted, a popular television show. Even if there was an outstanding reward, she would still protect him, but wasn't sure of her neighbors. He wasn't really their favorite person in their opinion except for one child, Sora and her brother...um...drat, she couldn't remember his name.

As if fate began for her, the T.V. started to tune into a live press conference with the president speaking of a plane crash from the military. Adele was about to reach the power button, the reporter mentioned her brother's name...

Adele gasped and stared in shock as her brother was presumed dead with another man she didn't know...apparently he was in a plane crash testing the military's aircraft that landed somewhere in the outer Tria area.

Adele simply pulled out a bottle of liquor...and started to drink her pain away, not even bothering for a glass...

**So...what do think? Crappy, not so crappy? Dare I say it...good? Well, it wasn't such a good ending for now, but it was starting to wane a bit and I ended it there so I can regroup and fashion some more guidelines for the next three chapters.**

**I think I'll write some of my rough Ideas into a notebook and begin writing another chapter as soon as I'm able to organize my thoughts and ventures...**

**So, faithful fans and newcomers, hold out for my next installment!**

**Your thankful writer,**

**Terra Ace.**


	8. Orange Dawn

Well, it's been a small reprieve since last chapter, but now I'm raring to go! Enjoy the next Chapter!

_Chapter Eight: Orange Dawn_

Jack and Ridley were being led down a wide steel corridor, which had a surprisingly simple wooden door at the end. Stopping at a computer console just about twenty feet away from the door, Gerald was typing what looked to be his name and a password. Carlos, by the way, had left them earlier saying he was heading back to the laboratory. Just then the wooden door shimmered for a moment and sounds of weapons were being put away. The door stayed the same though, but it seemed to pulse with a bit of energy every now and then.

"Wow...what an illusion!" Jack said, awed and starry-eyed. Ridley was impressed too, but wasn't on the zealot level as Jack was being. Though the two didn't notice it, Gerald was smirking at the comment. A beep later and Gerald turned away from the console and motioned them to hurry up. Jack got shaken out of his worship mode by Ridley and followed behind.

"**Enter**" a booming voice entered that shocked Jack and Ridley a bit. Gerald wasn't fazed at all and opened the wooden door, leaving Jack and Ridley to enter on their own.

Whatever they were expecting, it wasn't this. The room looked a lot like a disorganized bedroom than a leader's office, with papers and books on the floor. It was actually a bedroom, Ridley observed as a door inside was open revealing a soft bed inside. The two looked around the room and saw various bookshelves and gun-cabinet next to what looked like the bathroom. Gerald's eyes didn't stray from the center and started to salute at the most disarming person you could ever meet.

She was a slightly pale young woman in her mid-thirties with shimmering blonde hair. However, seeing the deputy commander's salute meant that she wasn't one to be trifled with. Of course, no one living in guild territory was to be trifled with...

"Well, this was a surprise. Imagine me waking up to reports of skirmishes between Radiata's army and one of Blue Vareth's generals on our desert plains." Here she grinned, though Ridley felt intimidated by it. "Then have me nearly shocked to see that one of Radiata's secret weapons on the field, only to be operated by minors! Even more, they were winning!" Jack and Ridley looked at each other, they were _winning_?

"Well, all amusement aside, I am Commander Elwen. Leader of the Orange Vancoor, and one hell of a tank driver!" Jack and Ridley were surprised, to find that Commander Elwen had a slight western accent while still managing to a type of noble lady at the same time.

"Now, what did you want to talk to me about? I don't usually make time for anything unless its important to our current strategies. So make it quick." She said and looked at Ridley while leaning back in a reclining chair.

"Um..ok...well we are on the run from Radiata's army because of my father. He-" Ridley was cut off by Elwen.

"Let me guess, your father's name is Jasne Colton right?" Ridley's eyes widened a bit. At this look, Elwen smiled.

"Y-yes, that's right. Ahem, my father wasn't too fond of Jack here." Jack waved a bit. "So he framed Jack for a crime that he didn't commit and made sure he went to the army. However General Dynas Stone took him under his command and spared him from the usual "treatment". I finally located Jack through police records and found that he was at the army compound near my home instead of station #3. I arrived just in time to see him off and watched him enter a plane that he believed was to head toward Nowem Forest." This time Elwen raised a hand to interrupt and spoke calmly.

"Hmm...but he wasn't heading there, was he?" Ridley shook her head. "I see...so what happened to the plane?" Jack started to speak here, seeing that he was actually on the blasted thing.

"Our plane was in fact heading toward the Tria prison facility southwest of Tria Village. I met someone on the plane, Leona Weissheit that was attempting to escape the plane when the cell doors were opening by themselves. We escaped with my army Captain, Ganz Rothschild-" Jack was silenced by Gerald's gasp. Even Elwen seemed surprised at this.

"Gawain's kid is here? Wow, I'll have two escorts bring him and the Weissheit girl inside." Gerald muttered something onto a telephone that was hanging on the wall and returned to face his boss again.

"Right...well our plane's pilot was dead by nearly four tranquilizers to the neck, arm and one straight where the heart should be. The plane was sabotaged and they were certain it would crash and leave no survivors." Elwen frowned at the state of the dead man, it was clear that it wasn't a rebellious attack.

"Continue." She said simply and Jack nodded. Gerald was looking grave, Ridley noticed as she looked around the room with her eyes.

"Well, we crashed and spent hours finding edible supplies until Ridley found us." Jack finished simply as Elwen looked at the two of them.

"It seems we are missing a bit of story here, so if you would explain how you got the tank, miss Silverlake." Elwen stated and Ridley started again.

"It was about three hours after Jack's plane left that General Stone received a call from Radiata's air control tower and informed me about Jack's supposed death. He left me to grieve but I suddenly snapped. Having several bad things happen in succession made me lose my sanity temporarily and I effortlessly entered an weapons' bunker and then entered a war factory that was in production of making Hover Tanks." Jack looked impressed and Gerald was gaping a bit as well.

"I found that the tank's were about to be redirected to Blue Vareth's main base but I inadvertently stopped their spy from doing so. I pressed a button on the control panel and found myself in one of the tanks that seemed to respond to me alone. The tank blew a hole in the side of the factory and the main cannon blast decimated a straight line of buildings as it escaped to my destination: Jack's plane." Elwen nodded and started to speak in a slow, but commanding tone.

"It seems that Radiata's military is without weapons and manpower because of Ridley's stunt. I think it would be a while before they are fully operational but they would have sufficient materials for at least a year before they run out. Blue Vareth, however will not take kind to having lost one of their spies and will attempt to locate who did it, namely Ridley." Elwen stood and found that she was at least 5'9, though she looked a lot shorter from her sitting position.

"Now that I have your recount, what brings you here specifically to Orange Vancoor HQ?" Elwen asked. Jack looked at Ridley and she nodded as he said,

"We want to join Orange Vancoor. We believe that we can take down Ridley's father from power and end a string of corrupt officials in power." Elwen looked at Jack and Ridley skeptically but before she could answer, Ridley added,

"If we can't, then we'll sell the plans for the Hover Tank research so that we can run away...and forget this all ever happened." Elwen seemed to changer her mind, the plans could be useful for their arsenal.

"Well, I was going to refuse but these plans would be rather expensive to purchase from you. So how about this? I'll let you in and assign each of your people to a formed squad under commander Gerald and we'll have these plans for our development. Is that fair?" Jack and Ridley nodded and was relieved that Elwen had a real smile on her face. She stuck out her hand and both of them shook it individually as Elwen saluted.

"Welcome to Orange Vancoor, I'll have Gerald show you to your quarters."

A couple of hours later, Jack was roomed with Ridley, Leona and Ganz in subterranean room with lighting and a some light air conditioning somewhere west of the base. They were taken there in the APC used earlier by Gerald and Carlos while hauling the tank by chain. After Ridley placed the tank in the research facility, Gerald escorted them west from the facility to the their quarters.

The group met some interesting members along the way. There was an old drunkard named Jarvis and his sub-ordinate named Daniel. While Daniel and Jarvis seemed like rookie fighters, they held their weapons with relative ease. Daniel with his sniper rifle and Jarvis amazingly held a Twelve-Gauge shotgun in one hand while a beer bottle rested with his other.

They also met Aldo and Gareth, two of the most conflicting attitudes you could ever meet in Radiata. While Aldo was content to read over a book with strategies, Gareth was a man of action like their commander; a brooding, yet philosophically intertwined man named Caesar. They were fighting about how to go on in an online strategy game and only paused to say hello before resuming their bickering.

Their most interesting meeting was with a young couple named Alicia and Dennis. Alicia was Commander of Dennis, and Dennis was the duo's commando. Alicia explained that commandos were like the perfect soldier when it came to guns and explosives. They could also hijack enemy vehicles and use them to run rampant around the enemy compounds...provided they weren't caught.

It was late at night that Jack noticed as he kept looking at the dimmed lighted ceiling while thinking about what he would do as a member Orange Vancoor. He certainly wasn't going to be a common soldier like Conrad, who seemed to slack off at any given moment. He could also apply for a commander position, but from what Thanos the weapons inventory man said, then he would need at least a year in combat to even be considered to be one.

A soft knock came from the door and opened to find Ganz at the door. He entered and sat himself on the chair beside Jack's bed and started to look at the apparently fascinating ceiling before speaking.

"Jack, I wonder how our old comrades are holding up. You know, General Dynas and Captain Natalie? I wonder if they think about us as well." Ganz sighed and continued.

"If we're dead to Radiata, then it's probably safe to assume that they've mailed death letters to our relatives. I know that my mother died eight years ago so I'm probably the last of my line. I think your sister Adele had probably received the letter not too long ago." Jack felt bad, his sister probably thinks that he's six feet under and is feeling all alone.

"It looks like I'll have a talk with my sister soon, maybe I'll see if I can convince the Commander if she'll let me leave." With that subtle 'Excuse me', Jack left and passed by Gerald's room, who told him that the guns only work if the alarm or the security code is on. Jack nodded and continued to Elwen's room, who was looking through what seemed to be a family album.

"Excuse me, Commander?" Jack said with a polite knock on her door. Elwen was looked up with fading signs of being startled, but simply gave a small grin to show him in.

"Yes, Jack?" Jack felt like she was somebody easy to talk to, but knew the line and kept away from it.

"Um, my sister Adele probably thinks that I'm dead. Seeing that she probably got word of my demise...so-" Jack was politely interrupted by Elwen, who had an understanding look now.

"Ah, so you want to assure her that your not. Unfortunately that cannot happen, because we have reports that Adele was abducted along with all of supporters from Solieu and Tria from an attack from Blue Vareth."

"What?! When did this happen? Adele..." Jack looked hopelessly lost but Elwen stopped him from sinking any lower.

"However, we will retrieve them all. While our Intel team is gathering their location, we'll have up and running as a commando to lead the charge. Your team will need some missions under your belt as all civilians would probably freeze at first sight of combat." Elwen paused and continued softly.

"Jack, I know what its like to lose family. I've lost my husband, Alfred on a mission raid before Vancoor was formed. Alicia was his niece, so we both know how it's to lose a loved one...or miss one, it's really all the same." Elwen added hastily seeing Jack's crestfallen face. Jack nodded his head and quietly excused himself but not before Elwen said.

"Just get the feel of battle, and when the time comes, you will rescue your sister." Jack nodded, feeling a bit more confident.

While this was all happening, Ridley and her roommate, Leona were having a discussion on Jack and their feelings.

"Leona, how do you feel about Jack?" Ridley asked bluntly. Leona was surprised at the direct question but decided not to spare the girl's feelings.

"I love Jack." She said simply and waited for an action. Leona was suspicious that Ridley didn't do anything but was shocked to she kept up this to the point attitude with another statement.

"He certainly is lovable. However, we know that he can love only one. I will be certain that he stays with me." Ridley simply looked like if this were everyday talk and Leona wasn't backing down on this.

"Then I'll have to convince him otherwise then!" Ridley looked mildly surprised but suppressed her astonishment.

"I see. Well try your best then and move on when you lose." Leona simply retorted.

"Just remember, first loves don't usually last long. Enjoy it while you can." Ridley conceded the battle but the war was raging on.

The next day

Jack was recently gathering updates on special equipment exclusive to Orange Vancoor and was surprised to see that his arm was fixed instantly along with Ganz' foot with some experimental medicines that Bruce, the company's doctor, had administered earlier in the morning.

It meant that Ganz would only need to rest his foot for a day and he'll feel like if he never broke it at all. Jack was able to heal immediately and received only a few instructions on vehicle hijacking. It seemed that commando training was equivalent to a rifleman's training except for more study time on vehicles.

Jack was immediately summoned by Gerald via Comlink given to Jack around the same time they took the medicine. Thinking that he may be able to do a mission, he eagerly went and wasn't disappointed.

"Jack, we'll need to send several of our snipers to help reconnaissance the area for our tanks. You will be under Alicia's command as she observes your progress inside her APC. You will scout and eliminate a suspicious campground that we believe holds one of our captive soldiers." Gerald handed him a picture. "This is our Bazooka specialist Gregory. He was captured along with this man." Gerald handed Jack another photo. "Walter, a rifle specialist and commander of Conrad. We need you to wipe out any enemy bazooka soldiers with any weapon at your disposal." Gerald finished and Elwen took over as she entered with Alicia and Dennis.

"Your team will need to move swiftly as we have Blue Vareth variations of Radiata's tanks closing in on the campsite. If they get hold of either one, then our headquarters will be compromised."

"On another note, we have placed Ridley and her tank up into the fray as head of the assault team. Leona is starting decoding of the plans for the research along with Carlos and Rolec. I believe that she will have production up and running in no time." Elwen opened her cabinet and took out a medium-sized rifle along with a waist fitted packet of ammo clips.

"This will be your main weapon, so don't lose it. Use it when you need silent take-outs without alerting the enemy."

Alicia started to speak, but she held a firmness inside that belied her carefree nature. "I'll have Dennis pick off some of the early enemy riflemen so that's you'll have a better time to reposition yourself. Shoot down the Bazooka soldiers and don't worry about enemy riflemen, our Hummers are equipped with a belt-fed machine gun."

Elwen stood. "If that's all, move out!" All members present saluted automatically and left to begin their preparations.

Jack was following Dennis as the older sniper explained on how to sneak upon the enemy and if left intact, steal the vehicle. Twenty minutes about their discussion, Jack and Dennis arrived at Vancoor's auto-pool. Alicia was already setting up weapons and supplies into the back of the vehicle.

"Right then, let's move out to our target area. It's pretty much clearing with a few trees, but we'll be able to see fine. It's around the edge of Tria, just past the city." Alicia started up the engine and Jack and Dennis climbed aboard and set off toward Jack's first mission.

While Alicia was driving, Dennis was answering any questions that Jack was asking. He seemed very patient and was glad to help those in need. Jack was taking a liking to this guy and probably vice versa.

"All right, we're here! Now, I'll put our communications on these head sets, so shut off your comlink. Next, I'll call for you if I see any differences on our limited radar so you'll have to pick off any bazookas that rear their heads as I scout around. I know Dennis knows this, but you don't Jack; keep your voice to a whisper when I call you. I've turned up the volume reception to have your voice sound as if we're talking normally. So no need to shout your response to one of my orders, okay?"

"All right then, move out!" Alicia said and opened the back door of the APC to let them out. Into the city of Tria. Dennis silently motioned for Jack to stay close as they searched the path for any ambushes. Thankfully they found none and radioed Alicia to move ahead to the town limits.

Now the team was reaching the forest and once again Jack and Dennis were scouting the forest edges and found some soldiers setting up a guard post further inside. Jack was instructed to sneak to the other side and take out the guards while Dennis looked more ahead to silence any stragglers.

"Jack, I've pinpointed a hill that would be perfect to take them out. Just go a few steps forward and you'll see it." Jack nodded and made his way toward his destination and found the view on the hill had perfect view of the guard post. Jack set up his rifle and took aim at the soldiers.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Four soldiers out of five lay dead as another was running off, guard post forgotten. Jack was about to aim when he heard a distant PLIP! He looked through his scope and saw the fifth man lay squirming with his hands on his throat until he stopped. He received a radio transmission from Alicia.

"Four out of five, not bad. Seems that the Army aren't slackers! Still, next time put a silencer on the barrel." Jack said a quiet affirmative and looked at his pouch to reload and equip the silencer.

"Right, now we can move on. Continue and report your surroundings." Alicia said and started to drive ahead of Jack, but parked a few feet away, inside a grove of trees. Jack went ahead and looked to where Dennis was at, but he wasn't there.

'He must have gone ahead...I should go too.' Jack thought as he made his way and hid behind a tree.

"Now, there are some walking patrols in the area but Dennis will eliminate them. See that blockade?" Jack looked to see several soldiers and what looked like a miniature guard tower in the vicinity. The guard tower looked vicious with that machine gun atop, infantry and commandos will be mowed down...

"Now, it looks like there's a way to destroy the thing, so look for a drum of gasoline somewhere and watch the fireworks." Alicia stopped and watched her new commando do his work.

Jack easily spotted the can and saw that they were bunched together behind the tower's legs. Jack readied his sniper scope when Alicia stopped him.

"Wait! Take off the silencer, it needs heat to properly activate the explosion, so a silencer wouldn't have the heat needed as an open round would." Jack was silent as he took off silencer and took aim once again.

BAM! KA-BOOM!

Alicia was right! There was fireworks as the guard tower exploded in flames while the soldiers were vainly trying put out the fire that was on them only to fall dead from the fire while their bodies were charred. Jack just shook his head and continued on.

He arrived at a large clearing that was being occupied as a small encampment. He saw what looked to a mobile armored power generator along with a radar installation and some soldier's guarding a gated area bunker. Alicia drove up aside from Jack and spoke into the link, while Dennis was scaling a cliff over looking the encampment.

"Jack, the bunker is believed to hold our members but we can't do anything until those soldiers are taken care of! See if you can snipe as many you can while Dennis creates a distraction. Then when the time is right, sneak into the base and plant some C-4 into the mobile power generator and radar so they 'll be left blind." At this, the APC hatch opened to find three charges of C-4 explosives.

"Set the third one a few feet away from the bunker to leave a hole to make our prisoner's escape."

The signal was given as a sole guard tower exploded in a sea of flames as soldiers scrambled toward the disturbance as Jack was picking off the soldiers carrying bazookas and those with some rifles.

"Ok, Dennis should be fine taking out those that you missed, so get in there and set those explosives to detonate in four minutes for the power generator, and two minutes for the radar. Set the C-4 for the bunker to thirty seconds and lob it between the gate and the wall to make a path for our prisoners."

Exactly seven minutes later, all three objectives were completed as bunker and gate had a hole in each and the Radar and Generator were destroyed.

"Hah! We're free! Let's get out of here!" Gregory was still donned in his armor, but had no weapon. Same went for Walter as Alicia's APC came up next to them.

"Alicia! Thank goodness...we thought that they were going to get us all the way!" Walter said with a grateful tone as he and Gregory boarded the APC. Jack saw that Dennis was running away frantically from what looked like...a tank?!

"Alicia, let's get out of here! They came early!" Dennis was shouting as he dove for the open passenger side as Jack also got in and closed the hatch by hand. The sounds of the APC driving off and a BOOM! in the distance was heard as their mission was a success.

"Huh...looks like we'll have to change our plans. Let's head back to HQ and report our findings." Alicia said and started to explain Jack's presence in the vehicle.

"This is Jack, our new commando and the one that sprung you out of jail!" Alicia said as she drove on.

Walter smiled warmly while Gregory grinned largely at Jack.

"Well! Nice to meet you, Jack! I'm Walter, rifleman commander! And this is Gregory. When you need a tank problem fixed, call on him and his team!" Walter said while Gregory was trying, and failing to look nonchalant at his introduction.

"No need for applause, seeing that explosions will drown them out, heh!" Gregory said as Walter, Alicia and Dennis rolled their eyes...

Yep, Jack could get used to this lifestyle...

**Well, how's this for a mission chapter! I think it went pretty well, so I'll see if I can find some who would agree!**

**Best wishes,**

**Terra Ace**


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